Learn Hardcore Dutch: De meeste mensen drinken ’s ochtends koffie.

You can also say de meeste van de mensen, but that sounds heavier and is used when you are clearly talking about a specific group that was mentioned before. In everyday speech, de meeste mensen is standard and natural.

Why is it mensen drinken and not mensen drinkt?

Because mensen is plural (people), the verb must also be plural.

Singular: De meeste mens drinkt koffie. – The most person drinks coffee. (This is grammatical but strange because mens is rarely used this way.)
Plural (normal): De meeste mensen drinken koffie.

Dutch regular verbs use:

ik drink
jij / u / hij / zij / het drinkt
wij / jullie / zij drinken

So with mensen (they), you need drinken.

Why is the word order De meeste mensen drinken ’s ochtends koffie and not De meeste mensen koffie drinken ’s ochtends?

Dutch main clauses follow the verb-second rule: the finite verb (here drinken) must be in second position.

De meeste mensen = first position (subject phrase)
drinken = second position (verb)
’s ochtends koffie = everything that comes after

So:

✅ De meeste mensen drinken ’s ochtends koffie.
❌ De meeste mensen koffie drinken ’s ochtends. (the verb is no longer in second position)

You can move other parts around as long as the finite verb stays second, for example:

’s ochtends drinken de meeste mensen koffie.
Koffie drinken de meeste mensen ’s ochtends. (a bit marked, but grammatically correct)

What does ’s in ’s ochtends mean? Is it a possessive like in English?

No, it is not a possessive like English John’s.

’s in ’s ochtends is a shortened form of old-fashioned des, a genitive (possessive-like) form meaning “of the”. Historically:

des ochtends → ’s ochtends
literally: of the morning

Today, des ochtends sounds archaic, and only ’s ochtends is used in normal speech and writing.

The same pattern appears with other times of day:

’s morgens – in the morning
’s middags – in the afternoon
’s avonds – in the evening
’s nachts – at night

Why is it ochtends and not ochtend in ’s ochtends?

Ochtend is the basic noun (morning). In time expressions like ’s ochtends, Dutch often adds an -s to form an adverbial phrase (a time expression):

’s ochtends – in the morning
’s middags – in the afternoon
’s avonds – in the evening

So ochtends here functions adverbially: in the (mornings / morning time). You do not generally use ochtends by itself outside these fixed time expressions; you use de ochtend for the noun.

What is the difference between ’s ochtends, ’s morgens, in de ochtend, and in de morgen?

They all refer to the morning, but there are differences in usage and nuance:

’s ochtends – very common, slightly more neutral/standard
’s morgens – also common; in many regions this is more natural in everyday speech

Both mean in the morning.

in de ochtend – literally in the morning; a bit more formal or specific (e.g. talking about a particular morning or time range)
in de morgen – feels more old-fashioned or poetic in modern Dutch

In everyday conversation, ’s ochtends and ’s morgens are the most typical choices.

Why is there no article before koffie? Why not De meeste mensen drinken ’s ochtends de koffie?

Koffie is a mass noun here, used in a general, non-countable sense: coffee as a drink.

In Dutch, when talking about what you drink/eat in general, you often use the bare noun without an article:

Ik drink koffie. – I drink coffee.
Wij eten brood. – We eat bread.
Zij drinken thee. – They drink tea.

If you added an article, the meaning changes:

de koffie – the coffee (specific coffee)
- De meeste mensen drinken ’s ochtends de koffie.
  sounds like: Most people drink the coffee (that we have here / that we talked about) in the morning. Very specific.

So in the given sentence you want the generic idea: coffee in general, therefore no article.

Can I say De meeste mensen drinken ’s ochtends een koffie?

This depends on the variety of Dutch:

In Netherlands Dutch, een koffie is possible but feels more like one coffee (serving), often in café contexts, and een kopje koffie is more common.
In Belgian Dutch, een koffie is very normal and widely used to mean a cup of coffee.

So:

De meeste mensen drinken ’s ochtends een kopje koffie. – natural in all varieties.
De meeste mensen drinken ’s ochtends een koffie. – particularly natural in Belgian Dutch; in the Netherlands people would more often say een kopje koffie.

Can ’s ochtends be placed in a different position in the sentence?

Yes. Time expressions in Dutch are quite flexible. As long as the finite verb stays in second position, you can move ’s ochtends:

De meeste mensen drinken ’s ochtends koffie. (neutral)
’s ochtends drinken de meeste mensen koffie. (focus on the time)
De meeste mensen drinken koffie ’s ochtends. (also possible; focus a bit more on koffie)

All three are grammatical. The differences are mostly about emphasis and flow, not grammar.

How do you pronounce ’s ochtends, especially the ’s?

Roughly:

’s is pronounced like /s/.
ochtends is approximately /ˈɔxtəns/:
- och – like the German ach, with a guttural ch sound
- ten – like tən
- ds – a final ds sound

So ’s ochtends sounds like: [soch-təns], with a clear s at the start and a guttural ch in och.

Why is De capitalized in De meeste mensen, and would it always be capitalized?

De is capitalized here simply because it’s the first word of the sentence.

In the middle of a sentence, you would normally write:

Ik denk dat de meeste mensen ’s ochtends koffie drinken.

So:

Sentence start → De
Elsewhere in the sentence → de

Does De meeste mensen mean “most people in the whole world” or just “most people in some specific group”?

By itself, De meeste mensen is vague, like English Most people. The exact group depends on context.

It can mean:

Most people in general
- De meeste mensen drinken ’s ochtends koffie. – as a general claim about people.
Most people in a specific group (if that group is clear from context)
- In dit bedrijf drinken de meeste mensen ’s ochtends koffie.
  → most people in this company.

So the phrase itself doesn’t specify the group; the context does.