Learn Hardcore Dutch: Kortom, we vertrekken later en koken samen thuis. - In short, we will leave later and cook at home together.

We hebben weinig tijd, het is ver weg en het wordt laat. Kortom, we vertrekken later en koken samen thuis.
We have little time, it’s far away and it will be late. In short, we’ll leave later and cook together at home.

It’s neutral in tone and common in both spoken and written Dutch. It normally refers back to previous sentences, not forward to what comes after it.

Do I always need a comma after Kortom?

When kortom stands at the beginning of a sentence as a kind of comment word, you normally write a comma:

Kortom, we vertrekken later…

It acts like English “In short,” or “So,” which also usually take a comma.

You can sometimes see Kortom without a comma in very informal writing, but with a comma is standard and safest.

Why is it we vertrekken later and not something like we zullen later vertrekken or we gaan later vertrekken?

Dutch often uses the simple present to talk about the future, especially for plans or decisions that are already fixed:

We vertrekken later.
We (will) leave later.

Alternatives are possible, but with slight nuances:

We zullen later vertrekken. – a bit more formal, or focusing on the decision or expectation.
We gaan later vertrekken. – can sound more like a developing plan, or “we’re going to leave later”.

In everyday speech, we vertrekken later is perfectly natural for a future meaning, just like English “We leave tomorrow” for a scheduled future.

Why can the second part be en koken samen thuis without repeating we? Isn’t that wrong?

No, it’s fine and quite natural. Dutch can omit a repeated subject in coordinated clauses when it’s clearly the same subject:

We vertrekken later en koken samen thuis.
= We vertrekken later en we koken samen thuis.

This works because:

Both verbs (vertrekken, koken) clearly refer to the same we.
The clauses are joined by en (and).

You must repeat the subject if:

The subject changes:
- We vertrekken later en zij koken thuis. (we vs they)
Leaving it out would cause confusion.

So both versions are correct, but leaving out the second we sounds a bit more compact and fluent.

Can I change the order koken samen thuis to samen thuis koken or thuis samen koken? Which is most natural?

All three orders are grammatically possible, but they differ in feel.

In Dutch, a common rule for elements after the verb is time – manner – place. Here:

samen = manner (how?)
thuis = place (where?)

So koken samen thuis (…cook together at home) follows that pattern: manner → place, and sounds very natural:

We koken samen thuis. ✅ (neutral)

Other options:

We koken thuis samen. – also possible; can put a bit more emphasis on thuis (at home).
We zullen samen thuis koken. – with both adverbs before the verb at the end (in a different structure), also fine.

If you change it to:

We koken samen thuis. – most neutral in this sentence.
We koken thuis samen. – still OK, slightly different emphasis.
We samen thuis koken. – not correct as a main clause (finite verb must be in second position).

So the given order koken samen thuis is a very natural choice.

Why is the verb in second position in we vertrekken later? Is that a general rule?

Yes. In Dutch main clauses, the finite verb (the one marked for person/tense) normally comes in second position:

We vertrekken later. – subject (we) first, verb (vertrekken) second.
Morgen vertrekken we later. – adverb (morgen) first, verb (vertrekken) second, subject follows.

This is called the V2 rule (verb-second). It applies to the second clause too if you write it with a subject:

We vertrekken later en we koken samen thuis.
(In the second clause, koken is again in second position.)

What kind of words are later, samen, and thuis? Are they adjectives?

They’re all adverbs, not adjectives:

later – adverb of time (later).
- We vertrekken later. – We leave later.
samen – adverb of manner (together).
- We koken samen. – We cook together.
thuis – adverb of place (at home).
- We koken thuis. – We cook at home.

Adjectives in Dutch modify nouns (een groot huis – a big house), while adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Here, they all modify the verb.

What’s the difference between we and wij? Could the sentence also use wij?

We and wij both mean “we” / “us”, but:

we is unstressed, the default in normal speech.
wij is stressed, used when you want to emphasize we (as opposed to someone else).

In this sentence:

We vertrekken later en koken samen thuis. – completely normal.
Wij vertrekken later en koken samen thuis. – emphasizes we; e.g., in contrast to others:
- Zij gaan uit eten, maar wij vertrekken later en koken samen thuis.

So we is the most natural form here, but wij is also correct with a stronger emphasis.

Could I say Kortom, later vertrekken we en koken we samen thuis? Is that still correct?

Yes, that’s grammatically correct. Here you’ve put later in first position:

Later vertrekken we… – later occupies the first slot, so the verb vertrekken still comes second, and we moves after the verb.

This slightly emphasizes the time element (later). It’s like saying:

“In short, later is when we’re leaving, and we’ll cook together at home.”

It sounds a bit more marked or contrastive than We vertrekken later, but it’s fine.

Are vertrekken and koken separable verbs?

No, vertrekken and koken are not separable verbs.

vertrekken – to depart/leave
koken – to cook

They do not split like separable verbs such as opstaan (to get up → Ik sta op. / Ik ben opgestaan.).

So you always keep them as one piece (apart from normal conjugation):

We vertrekken.
We koken.
We zijn vertrokken.
We hebben gekookt.

Why is it just thuis and not something like bij het huis or aan huis, like English “at home”?

Dutch usually expresses “at home” simply with the adverb thuis:

We koken thuis. – We cook at home.
Ik blijf thuis. – I’m staying at home.

You normally don’t use a preposition here.
Phrases like bij het huis, aan huis, or in het huis are possible, but they mean something slightly different:

bij het huis – near the house.
in het huis – inside the house (more physical location).
aan huis leveren – to deliver to (someone’s) home (fixed expression).

For the everyday idea of doing something at home, thuis alone is the standard choice.