Learn Hardcore Dutch: Wij maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking.

wij is the stressed form. You use it when you want to emphasize we (and not someone else).
- Wij maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking. → We are the ones taking photos.
we is the unstressed, more neutral everyday form.
- We maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking. → Just stating a fact, no special emphasis.

In most casual speech or writing, we is more common. Wij can sound a bit more emphatic, formal, or contrastive, depending on context. Both are grammatically correct here.

Why do you use maken for taking photos? Why not nemen, like English take?

In Dutch, the idiomatic expression is:

foto’s maken = literally to make photos, but it means to take photos / pictures.

You don’t normally say foto’s nemen; it sounds wrong or at least very foreign.

This is just a fixed collocation in Dutch, like:

beslissingen nemen = to make decisions (literally take decisions)
foto’s maken = to take photos (literally make photos)

So, whenever you want to say take a picture in Dutch, use:

een foto maken
foto’s maken

The English translation is We are taking photos during the award ceremony. But maken is simple present. How can that mean are taking or even future?

Dutch uses the simple present much more broadly than English. Wij maken foto’s can correspond to:

We take photos (general habit)
We are taking photos (right now / at that time)
We will be taking photos (planned future – during the ceremony)

Context tells you which interpretation is intended.

If you really want to emphasize the future, you can say:

Wij zullen foto’s maken tijdens de uitreiking. → We will take photos during the ceremony.
Wij gaan foto’s maken tijdens de uitreiking. → We are going to take photos during the ceremony.

But in many situations, especially when talking about timetabled or scheduled events, simple present is completely natural in Dutch: Wij maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking.

Why does foto’s have an apostrophe? Isn’t the plural just foto’s vs fotos?

The plural of foto is foto’s, and the apostrophe is required here.

Rule of thumb:
If a word ends in an unstressed vowel, Dutch usually adds ’s for the plural to keep the word clear and easy to read:

foto → foto’s
ski → ski’s
menu → menu’s

Without the apostrophe, fotos could be harder to read and might be mispronounced. So:

Correct: foto’s
Incorrect: fotos (in standard Dutch spelling)

What exactly does tijdens mean? When do I use tijdens and when do I use bij, op, or in?

tijdens means during, focusing on the time span in which something happens:

tijdens de uitreiking = during the award ceremony (while it is happening)

Compare:

bij de uitreiking = at the award ceremony (at that event / occasion)
op de uitreiking (Belgian/Dutch variation; some regions might say this, but bij is safer in Standard Dutch for “at an event”)
in de uitreiking is generally not used; uitreiking is an event, not a physical space you’re inside.

For time-related during, use tijdens:

tijdens de les = during class
tijdens de vakantie = during the holiday

What does uitreiking mean exactly, and in what situations would I use it?

uitreiking is a noun that means awarding / presentation / handing out of something, typically:

an award
a prize
a diploma
a certificate

Common expressions:

de prijsuitreiking = the prize-giving / prize award ceremony
de diploma-uitreiking = the graduation ceremony (handing out diplomas)
de uitreiking van de prijzen = the awarding of the prizes

So tijdens de uitreiking usually refers to during the official moment when prizes, diplomas, or awards are being handed out.

Why is it de uitreiking and not het uitreiking? How do I know which article to use?

Dutch has two definite articles: de and het.

de is used for:
- all plural nouns
- most singular common-gender nouns (de-words)
het is used for:
- most singular neuter nouns (het-words)

uitreiking is a de-word, so it takes de:

de uitreiking

There’s no rule you can always apply perfectly; you usually just learn the gender with the word. Dictionaries indicate this, often as:

de uitreiking (v.) or (de)

But as a learner, if you’re unsure, using de is statistically safer than het, because more nouns are de-words than het-words.

Could the sentence also be Tijdens de uitreiking maken wij foto’s? Is that a different meaning?

Yes, that is also correct:

Wij maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking.
Tijdens de uitreiking maken wij foto’s.

Both mean the same thing. The difference is emphasis and information structure:

Wij maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking.
- Neutral focus on what we do (we take photos), then when.
Tijdens de uitreiking maken wij foto’s.
- Puts more emphasis on when this happens: during the ceremony (and maybe not before or after).

In Dutch, time expressions like tijdens de uitreiking, morgen, vanavond can often be placed either:

at the beginning of the sentence, or
later in the sentence, usually after the verb and object.

Word order is fairly flexible here.

Can I leave out wij and just say Maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking like Spanish or Italian often drop the subject?

No. In standard Dutch you normally must include the subject pronoun:

Wij maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking. ✅
Maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking. ❌ (sounds incomplete / wrong)

Dutch is not a “pro-drop” language like Spanish or Italian. Spoken Dutch might sometimes drop the pronoun in very informal, clipped speech, but that’s not correct standard grammar and is not something you should copy as a learner.

So always use ik, jij, hij, wij, jullie, zij, etc., explicitly.

How would I say the negative: “We don’t take any photos during the ceremony”?

You would use geen to negate the noun foto’s:

Wij maken geen foto’s tijdens de uitreiking.
= We don’t take (any) photos during the ceremony.

Explanation:

geen negates a noun phrase that can be thought of as “any / some X”.
niet negates verbs, adjectives, adverbs, whole clauses, or definite noun phrases.

Compare:

Wij maken foto’s. → We take photos.
Wij maken geen foto’s. → We take no photos / We don’t take photos.
Wij maken niet vaak foto’s. → We don’t often take photos. (niet negates often here, not photo(s) directly.)

How do I change this sentence to past tense: “We took photos during the ceremony”?

Use the simple past of maken: maakten.

Wij maakten foto’s tijdens de uitreiking.
= We took photos during the ceremony.

Verb forms of maken (to make):

ik maak – I make
wij maken – we make
ik maakte – I made
wij maakten – we made
ik heb gemaakt – I have made / I made (perfect tense)

So past tense sentence:

Wij maakten foto’s tijdens de uitreiking.

Can I say We maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking instead of Wij? Is that more natural?

Yes. In everyday, neutral Dutch, we is very common:

We maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking. (perfectly normal)
Wij maken foto’s tijdens de uitreiking. (more emphatic, or slightly more formal)

You would typically choose wij when you want to stress the contrast:

Zij filmen, maar wij maken foto’s.
= They film, but we take photos.

Both forms are correct; as a default in spoken language, we is often more natural.