Learn Hardcore Dutch: Wij vinden het leren soms vermoeiend.

vinden ≈ “to find (to be), to think (have an opinion)”
- Ik vind dit saai. – I find this boring / I think this is boring.
denken ≈ “to think” in the sense of believe, suppose, have an idea
- Ik denk dat hij komt. – I think (I believe) he is coming.
voelen ≈ “to feel” (emotionally or physically)
- Ik voel me vermoeid. – I feel tired.

So here you’re not saying “we feel tired” or “we suppose learning is tiring”, but “our opinion is that learning is tiring” → vinden.

What does het do in het leren? Can you leave it out?

Here het is the definite article (“the”), and leren is an infinitive used as a noun:

het leren = “the learning / the studying (we have to do)”

So:

Wij vinden het leren soms vermoeiend.
= We sometimes find the learning (we have to do) tiring.

You can also say:

Wij vinden leren soms vermoeiend.

Both are correct, but there is a nuance:

het leren: a bit more specific, like “the studying (for this subject/exam)”.
leren (without het): more general, “learning” as an activity.

In many everyday contexts, both will be understood in almost the same way.

Why is leren in the infinitive form? Is it like the English -ing form?

Yes, in a way. Dutch doesn’t use a special -ing form like English; instead it often uses the infinitive as a kind of verbal noun.

Examples:

Het roken is verboden. – Smoking is forbidden.
Lezen is leuk. – Reading is fun.
Wij vinden het leren vermoeiend. – We find (the) learning tiring.

So where English often uses verb + -ing as a noun (“learning”, “smoking”), Dutch frequently uses the bare infinitive (leren, roken), optionally with het to make it definite (het leren, het roken).

Why is the word order Wij vinden het leren soms vermoeiend and not Wij vinden soms het leren vermoeiend?

The original sentence uses a very natural, neutral word order:

Wij vinden [het leren] [soms] [vermoeiend].
subject – verb – object – adverb – adjective

Other positions for soms are possible, but sound less neutral or slightly marked:

Wij vinden soms het leren vermoeiend.
Correct, but the emphasis subtly shifts: “It’s sometimes the learning we find tiring (as opposed to other things)”.
Wij vinden het leren vermoeiend, soms.
Sounds like an afterthought (“…tiring, sometimes.”).
Soms vinden wij het leren vermoeiend.
Also very natural; now the whole sentence is framed as “Sometimes, we find learning tiring.”

So the given word order is common and idiomatic, and alternatives change emphasis slightly rather than being flat-out wrong.

Why is it vermoeiend and not vermoeiende?

In Dutch, adjectives behave differently depending on their role:

Attributive (before the noun): usually take -e
- Het vermoeiende werk. – The tiring work.
- De vermoeiende les. – The tiring lesson.
Predicative (after a verb like zijn, vinden, lijken): no -e
- Het werk is vermoeiend. – The work is tiring.
- Wij vinden het leren vermoeiend. – We find the learning tiring.

In your sentence, vermoeiend is a predicative complement of vinden, not directly modifying a noun, so it stays vermoeiend, without -e.

What’s the difference between vermoeiend and vermoeid?

vermoeiend = “tiring” (something causes tiredness)
- Het werk is vermoeiend. – The work is tiring.
- Wij vinden het leren vermoeiend. – We find learning tiring.
vermoeid = “tired” (a person/animal feels tired)
- Ik ben vermoeid. – I am tired.
- Hij ziet er vermoeid uit. – He looks tired.

So in your sentence you need vermoeiend, because leren is what causes the tiredness.

Can Dutch drop the subject pronoun, like Spanish or Italian? Could you just say Vinden het leren soms vermoeiend?

No. Dutch normally requires an explicit subject pronoun in finite clauses.

✅ Wij vinden het leren soms vermoeiend.
❌ Vinden het leren soms vermoeiend. (wrong as a normal statement)

The only common situation where the subject and verb can switch order is in questions or after some sentence-initial elements:

Vinden wij het leren soms vermoeiend? – Do we sometimes find learning tiring?
Soms vinden wij het leren vermoeiend. – Sometimes we find learning tiring.

But even then, the subject (wij) is still present; it’s just after the verb.

What is the difference between wij and we?

Both mean “we”:

wij – stressed form
we – unstressed form

In practice:

Wij is used when you want to emphasize “we” (as opposed to someone else).
- Wij vinden het leren vermoeiend, maar zij niet.
  We find learning tiring, but they don’t.
We is more common in everyday speech when there’s no special emphasis.
- We vinden het leren soms vermoeiend.

So in your sentence, both are correct:

Wij vinden het leren soms vermoeiend.
We vinden het leren soms vermoeiend.

The meaning is the same; wij just sounds a bit more emphatic or careful.

Does leren here mean “to learn” or “to study”? Could you use studeren instead?

leren is flexible; it can mean:

to learn (as a student)
- Ik leer Nederlands. – I’m learning Dutch.
to teach (when it has two objects)
- Ik leer hem zwemmen. – I’m teaching him to swim.

In het leren, it refers to the general activity of learning/studying, often especially in a school/university context:

Wij vinden het leren soms vermoeiend.
= We sometimes find (our) studying/learning tiring.

studeren is more specific: mostly academic study (university-level, or “to study” as in “be a student of”):

Ik studeer geneeskunde. – I study medicine (at university).

You could say:

Wij vinden studeren soms vermoeiend. – We sometimes find studying (at uni/college) tiring.

…but het leren is a bit broader and more general than studeren.

Could I say Wij vinden het soms vermoeiend om te leren instead? Is it the same?

Yes, that is also correct, with slightly different structure:

Wij vinden het leren soms vermoeiend.
literally: We find (the) learning sometimes tiring.
Wij vinden het soms vermoeiend om te leren.
literally: We sometimes find it tiring to learn.

Differences:

het leren functions as a noun phrase (“the learning / the studying”).
om te leren is an infinitive clause (“to learn”).

In meaning, both can usually be translated as:

We sometimes find learning tiring.

The version with om te leren sounds a bit more like English “to learn”, while the version with het leren treats learning as “the learning process / the studying”. Both are idiomatic.