Learn Hardcore Dutch: Wij zijn te moe om nog te koken, dus we bestellen soep. - We are too tired to cook, so we order soup.

wij: used when you want to emphasize the subject.
- Wij zijn te moe om nog te koken.
  = We (as opposed to someone else) are too tired to cook.
we: the normal, unstressed form in everyday speech and writing.
- … dus we bestellen soep.
  = … so we order soup.

In your sentence, starting with Wij can sound like the speaker is stressing we, and then it naturally switches to the more relaxed we in the second clause. You could also say:

We zijn te moe om nog te koken, dus we bestellen soep. (neutral)
Wij zijn te moe om nog te koken, dus wij bestellen soep. (more emphatic, a bit heavier)

All combinations are grammatically correct; the choice is about emphasis and style.

How does the structure te moe om nog te koken work?

This is a common Dutch pattern:

te + adjective + om te + infinitive
= too + adjective + to + verb

So:

te moe = too tired
om te koken = to cook

Together: te moe om te koken = too tired to cook.

Your sentence adds nog:

te moe om nog te koken
- literally: too tired to still cook / to cook any more
- natural English: too tired to cook (anymore)

Other examples:

Het is te koud om buiten te zitten.
= It is too cold to sit outside.
Ik ben te druk om je te helpen.
= I am too busy to help you.

What exactly does nog mean here in om nog te koken, and why is it in that position?

nog is flexible, but in this sentence it means roughly still / any more / any further.

om nog te koken
= to still cook / to cook any more / to do more cooking

It suggests:

They might have already done things earlier (maybe worked, cooked earlier, etc.), and now they are too tired to do additional cooking.

Word order:
You must say:

✅ om nog te koken
❌ om te nog koken

In verb groups, te always comes directly before the infinitive (koken), and nog comes before te here.

Other examples:

Ik heb geen energie meer om nog te werken.
= I have no energy left to work any more.
Hij is te moe om nog te rijden.
= He is too tired to keep driving / to drive any more.

Why is the verb koken at the end of om nog te koken?

Dutch pushes (non‑finite) verbs to the end of the clause, especially in subordinate or infinitive structures.

om … te koken is an infinitive clause dependent on te moe:
- Wij zijn te moe [om nog te koken].

Inside that small clause:

nog = adverb
te = marker for the infinitive (like to in English)
koken = infinitive

The natural order is: [om] [nog] [te] [koken].

This general pattern appears in many similar structures:

om te werken (to work)
zonder te praten (without talking)
door te lezen (by reading)

Why is there a comma before dus, and what does dus do to the word order?

dus means so / therefore and is linking two main clauses:

Wij zijn te moe om nog te koken, dus we bestellen soep.

The comma marks the boundary between two main clauses:

Wij zijn te moe om nog te koken.
We bestellen soep.

After dus here, Dutch keeps normal main‑clause word order: subject – verb.

… dus we bestellen soep.
(we = subject, bestellen = verb)

If you put dus at the very beginning of the sentence or clause, you usually invert subject and verb:

We zijn te moe om nog te koken, dus bestellen we soep.
= So we order soup. (inversion: bestellen we)

Both versions are correct; the one given is the more neutral conversational pattern.

How is bestellen conjugated, and why is it we bestellen?

bestellen is a regular Dutch verb ending in -en.

Present tense:

ik bestel – I order
jij / je bestelt – you order (singular, informal)
hij / zij / het bestelt – he / she / it orders
wij / we bestellen – we order
jullie bestellen – you order (plural)
zij / ze bestellen – they order

For we, jullie, and ze (plural subjects), you use the infinitive form: bestellen.

So:

we bestellen soep
= we order soup / we are ordering soup

Why do we say om te koken instead of just te koken or just koken?

In the pattern te + adjective + om te + infinitive, the om is part of the fixed structure:

te moe om te koken
literally: too tired in order to cook → too tired to cook

Without om, it sounds incomplete or wrong:

❌ te moe te koken (not idiomatic)
✅ te moe om te koken

Compare:

Ik probeer te koken.
(no om, because it’s proberen te + infinitive)
Ik ben klaar om te koken.
(here klaar om te + infinitive is the pattern)

So whether you use om te or just te depends on the construction. For te + adjective + om te + infinitive, you need both om and te.

What is the difference between te moe, heel moe, and erg moe?

All three contain moe = tired, but they express different degrees and meanings:

te moe = too tired (excessive, it prevents something)
- Ik ben te moe om te koken.
  = I am too tired to cook.
heel moe = very tired
- Ik ben heel moe, maar ik kook toch.
  = I am very tired, but I’m cooking anyway.
erg moe = very / really tired (similar to heel moe)
- Ze is erg moe.
  = She is very tired.

So te moe always implies a limitation or problem (too tired to do X), while heel/erg moe just describe intensity (very tired) without necessarily blocking an action.

Why is there no article before soep? Why not de soep or een soep?

In Dutch (as in English), some nouns can be used without an article when you mean them in a general, mass sense.

We bestellen soep.
= We order soup (some soup, soup in general).

This is like English We’re having soup (not a soup).

If you add an article, the meaning changes:

We bestellen de soep.
= We order the soup (a specific soup, e.g. the one on the menu or the one you already know about).
We bestellen een soep.
- Grammatical, but less common; sounds like a soup (one portion, one kind) and is more typical in some contexts (cafés, menus, etc.), but often you’d hear een soepje (a little soup) instead.

In your sentence, it’s about having soup instead of cooking in a general sense, so soep without article is natural.

Could we say We zijn te moe om te koken, dus we bestellen nog soep instead? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, but the meaning of nog changes depending on where you put it.

… te moe om nog te koken …
- nog belongs to koken → cook any more / cook further
- They are too tired to do more cooking, so they opt for ordering.
… dus we bestellen nog soep.
- nog belongs to soep → more soup / some more soup
- This implies they already had some soup (or some food), and now they are ordering additional soup.

So:

Your original: te moe om nog te koken
= too tired to cook (anymore).
The alternative: bestellen nog soep
= (we) order more soup (on top of what we already had).

Same word nog, but attached to a different part of the sentence and with a different nuance.