Wil jij het raam dichtdoen?

Will you close the window?

Breakdown of Wil jij het raam dichtdoen?

• jij: you
• willen: to want
• het raam: the window
• dichtdoen: to close

Questions & Answers about Wil jij het raam dichtdoen?

Why does the sentence start with Wil and then jij? Why isn’t it Jij wil het raam dichtdoen?

In Dutch yes/no questions usually use inversion: the verb comes first, then the subject.

• Statement:
  Jij wil het raam dichtdoen. – You want to close the window.
• Question:
  Wil jij het raam dichtdoen? – Do you want to close the window? / Will you close the window?

So the word order change (verb before subject) is what marks this as a question.

What is the difference between jij and je? Could I also say Wil je het raam dichtdoen?

Yes, you can say both:

• Wil jij het raam dichtdoen?
• Wil je het raam dichtdoen?

The difference:

• jij is the stressed form – it often adds emphasis:
  
  • Wil jij het raam dichtdoen? (implies you rather than someone else)
• je is the unstressed, more neutral, everyday form.

So Wil je het raam dichtdoen? is the most common, neutral way to say it.

Why is it het raam and not de raam?

Dutch nouns have two grammatical genders:

• de-words (common gender)
• het-words (neuter gender)

Raam (window) is a het-word, so its definite article is het:

• het raam – the window
• de tafel – the table
• het huis – the house

You simply have to memorize for each noun whether it takes de or het. Dictionaries usually show this.

What does dichtdoen literally mean, and why is it written as one word here?

Dichtdoen is a separable verb, made from:

• dicht – closed/shut
• doen – to do

Literally: to do (something) closed → to close (it).

In the infinitive form (like in a dictionary, and after another verb such as willen, kunnen, etc.), it is one word:

• Wil jij het raam dichtdoen? – wil
  • dichtdoen (infinitive)

But in many other tenses and structures, it splits:

• Ik doe het raam dicht. – I close the window.
• Ik heb het raam dichtgedaan. – I have closed the window.

So:

• After wil, you use the infinitive → dichtdoen (one word)
• In a normal present-tense sentence, it splits → doe … dicht

Is dichtdoen here in the present tense or in some special tense?

The main conjugated verb is wil (from willen, to want). That is present tense:

• ik wil – I want
• jij wil / je wilt – you want

Dichtdoen is in the infinitive (the base form) because it comes after the verb wil.

So the structure is:

• Wil (present tense, 2nd person singular)
• • jij (subject)
• • het raam (object)
• • dichtdoen (infinitive)

Literally: Want you the window to-close? → Do you want to close the window? / Will you close the window?

Is Wil jij het raam dichtdoen? asking about willingness or just politely asking someone to do it?

Grammatically it means:

• Do you want to close the window?

But in everyday use, it usually functions as a polite request, similar to:

• Will you close the window?
• Could you close the window?

So it’s more about politely asking someone to do it, not really questioning their inner desire. Context and intonation make that clear.

Would it be more polite to say Kunt u het raam dichtdoen? or Zou je het raam dicht willen doen?

Yes, both can sound more polite or formal, depending on the situation.

• Kunt u het raam dichtdoen?

  • Uses u (formal you) → polite/formal
  • Uses kunnen (can) → “Can you close the window?”

• Zou je het raam dicht willen doen?

  • Uses the conditional zou → more indirect, softer
  • Literally: “Would you want to close the window?”

Hierarchy of tone (from direct to softer), roughly:

• Doe het raam dicht. – Close the window. (imperative, direct)
• Wil je het raam dichtdoen? – Neutral polite.
• Zou je het raam dicht willen doen? – Softer, extra polite.
• Kunt u het raam dichtdoen? – Polite and formal (using u).

Could I also say Doe je het raam dicht? or Maak je het raam dicht?

• Doe je het raam dicht?

  • Grammatically possible; sounds like you’re checking if someone is going to do it or does it habitually:
    
    • “Are you closing the window?” / “Do you close the window (then)?”
  • As a request, Wil je het raam dichtdoen? or Wil je het raam dichtmaken? is more natural.

• Maak je het raam dicht?

  • maken = to make; dichtmaken can mean “to make it closed,” but for windows and doors dichtdoen is far more common in standard Dutch.
  • People will understand it, but dichtdoen is the default verb with raam.

What’s the difference between raam and venster?

Both can mean window, but:

• raam is the normal, everyday word in modern spoken Dutch.
• venster is:
  • more formal, literary, or old-fashioned in many contexts;
  • still common in some fixed expressions and in computer terms:
    
    • venster on a computer screen = window (software).

In this sentence, Wil jij het raam dichtdoen? is the natural choice in normal speech.