De meeste mensen fietsen in het park.

Most people bike in the park.

Breakdown of De meeste mensen fietsen in het park.

• in: in
• het park: the park
• de mensen: the people
• fietsen: to bike
• meeste: most

Questions & Answers about De meeste mensen fietsen in het park.

Why does the sentence start with De meeste mensen and not just Meeste mensen?

In Dutch, meeste (most) normally needs a definite article (de or het) in front of it when you talk about people or things in general.

• De meeste mensen = most people (as a general group)
• Meeste mensen (without de) sounds incomplete or incorrect in standard Dutch.

So when you say meeste + noun in this kind of general statement, you normally say:

• de meeste mensen
• de meeste kinderen
• de meeste auto's

Using de makes it sound like “the majority of people” in English, which is exactly what is meant here.

Why is the verb fietsen and not fiets or fietst?

Mensen is plural (people), so the verb must also be in the plural form.

Present tense of fietsen (to cycle):

• ik fiets – I cycle
• jij/u fietst – you cycle (singular)
• hij/zij/het fietst – he/she/it cycles
• wij fietsen – we cycle
• jullie fietsen – you (plural) cycle
• zij fietsen – they cycle

In De meeste mensen fietsen in het park, the real subject is mensen (most people = they), so you use fietsen (3rd person plural):

• (Zij) fietsen – They cycle

That’s why fietsen is correct here.

Is fietsen here a verb or a noun?

In this sentence, fietsen is a verb: to cycle.

Dutch is a bit confusing because:

• de fiets = the bicycle (noun, singular)
• de fietsen = the bicycles (noun, plural)
• fietsen = to cycle (verb, infinitive and also plural form)

In De meeste mensen fietsen in het park, the structure is:

• De meeste mensen (subject)
• fietsen (verb)
• in het park (prepositional phrase)

So here fietsen clearly acts as a verb.

Why is it in het park and not in de park?

In Dutch, every noun has a grammatical gender: de-words and het-words.

• het park is a het-word (neuter noun)
• Therefore you say:
  • het park – the park
  • in het park – in the park

If a noun is a de-word, you would say in de …:

• de tuin – the garden → in de tuin – in the garden
• de stad – the city → in de stad – in the city

But park belongs to the het group, so it must be het park, not de park.

Could you also say De meeste mensen rijden fiets in het park?

No, that is not natural Dutch.

For cycling, Dutch uses the verb fietsen:

• fietsen = to cycle, to ride a bicycle

You do not say:

• × rijden fiets (ride bicycle)

Correct options are:

• De meeste mensen fietsen in het park. – Most people cycle in the park.
• De meeste mensen rijden auto. – Most people drive (a) car.
  (Here auto rijden is normal, but for a bike you use fietsen, not fiets rijden in standard speech.)

Can De meeste mensen fietsen in het park mean both a general habit and something happening now?

Yes, the Dutch present tense can express:

1. A habit / general truth:

   • De meeste mensen fietsen in het park.
     = Most people (regularly) cycle in the park.

2. Something happening right now, depending on context:

   • (Looking out of the window:) De meeste mensen fietsen in het park.
     = Most people are cycling in the park (right now).

If you want to make the “right now” feeling very explicit, Dutch often uses:

• De meeste mensen zijn aan het fietsen in het park.
  (literally: are at the cycling)

How would I say Most people are cycling in the park right now more explicitly?

You can keep it simple, or make the “right now” more obvious:

1. Simple, still often used for “now” in context:

   • De meeste mensen fietsen nu in het park.

2. More clearly progressive / ongoing:

   • De meeste mensen zijn nu aan het fietsen in het park.

Both are correct. The second one emphasizes the ongoing action more strongly.

Can I say op het park instead of in het park?

No, not in this meaning.

• in het park = inside the park area, moving/being within its boundaries
• op het park would sound strange here; it suggests being “on top of” the park, or refers to special fixed expressions (like op een vakantiepark, on a holiday park, meaning “on the holiday park grounds” as a type of site).

For a normal public park (with trees, paths, etc.), you say:

• fietsen in het park, wandelen in het park, spelen in het park

Where would niet go if I want to say Most people do not cycle in the park?

The most neutral version is:

• De meeste mensen fietsen niet in het park.

Here, niet comes after the verb fietsen, because you are negating the whole phrase fietsen in het park.

You could sometimes hear:

• De meeste mensen fietsen in het park niet.

That normally adds emphasis to in het park (as opposed to somewhere else), like:

• “They don’t cycle in the park (but they do somewhere else).”

For a simple, neutral negation, use:

• De meeste mensen fietsen niet in het park.

What is the singular of mensen, and can I say de meeste mens?

The singular of mensen is mens:

• mens – human being, person
• mensen – people, human beings

But de meeste mens is not idiomatic here. When you talk about “most people” in general, you almost always use the plural:

• de meeste mensen – most people

Mens in the singular is used for one human being, usually in a more “human as a creature” or somewhat stylistic sense:

• Hij is een goed mens. – He is a good person (a good human being).
• De mens is een sociaal dier. – The human is a social animal.

So for “Most people cycle in the park”, you must say:

• De meeste mensen fietsen in het park.