Learn Hardcore Dutch: Mijn ochtendroutine is rustig: ik douche, ontbijt en lees het nieuws. - My morning routine is calm: I shower, have breakfast and read the news.

Possessive determiners (used before a noun):
- mijn ochtendroutine = my morning routine
- jouw tas = your bag
  These behave like English my, your, his etc.
Possessive pronouns (used instead of a noun):
- Die routine is de mijne. = That routine is mine.
- Is dit jouw tas? Ja, het is de mijne. = Is this your bag? Yes, it is mine.

In this sentence we are directly modifying a noun (ochtendroutine), so we must use the determiner mijn, not mijne.

De ochtendroutine van mij is grammatically possible, but:

it sounds heavier/less natural in everyday speech, and
it puts extra emphasis on of me (as opposed to someone else’s).

In normal, neutral Dutch you say mijn ochtendroutine.

Why is ochtendroutine written as one word in Dutch?

Dutch almost always writes compound nouns as one single word:

ochtend + routine → ochtendroutine
ochtend + wandeling → ochtendwandeling (morning walk)
school + tas → schooltas (school bag)

So where English often has two separate words (morning routine), Dutch usually makes one compound word.

General rule: if two nouns together name one thing or concept, Dutch tends to write them together as one word.

What exactly does rustig mean here?

In Mijn ochtendroutine is rustig, rustig means something like:

calm
relaxed
not hectic / not rushed
peaceful

It does not necessarily mean silent; it is more about the pace and feeling:

Een rustige ochtend = a calm, unhurried morning
Een rustige straat = a quiet (not busy, not noisy) street
Doe maar rustig. = Take it easy / no rush.

So the sentence is saying that the person’s morning routine is relaxed and not stressful.

Why is it is rustig and not is rustige?

Rustig is an adjective. In Dutch:

Before a noun, the adjective often gets an -e:
- een rustige ochtendroutine = a calm morning routine
- de rustige straat = the quiet street
After verbs like zijn (to be), blijven (to stay), lijken (to seem), the adjective normally appears without the -e:
- Mijn ochtendroutine is rustig.
- De straat is rustig.
- Ze blijven rustig.

In this sentence, rustig comes after is, describing mijn ochtendroutine, so it stays rustig, not rustige.

What is the function of the colon in Mijn ochtendroutine is rustig: ik douche, ontbijt en lees het nieuws?

The colon works much like in English. It introduces:

an explanation,
a clarification, or
a list.

Here, the second part explains in what way the routine is rustig:

Mijn ochtendroutine is rustig:
→ explanation: ik douche, ontbijt en lees het nieuws.

You could roughly read it as:

My morning routine is calm; namely: I shower, have breakfast, and read the news.

A full stop instead of a colon would also be grammatically fine:

Mijn ochtendroutine is rustig. Ik douche, ontbijt en lees het nieuws.

The colon just makes the explanatory relationship clearer.

Why are the verbs douche, ontbijt, lees in this form? What are the infinitives?

The infinitives are:

douchen = to shower
ontbijten = to have breakfast
lezen = to read

For the present tense, 1st person singular (ik):

Take the infinitive
Remove -en → that gives you the stem
Use that stem as the ik form

So:

douchen → douch- → ik douche
ontbijten → ontbijt- → ik ontbijt
lezen → lez- → spelling change → ik lees

Lezen is irregular in spelling: the stem lez- becomes lees for pronunciation reasons, just like:

lezen → ik lees
eten → ik eet
lopen → ik loop

Is ontbijt a verb or a noun here?

In this sentence, ontbijt is a verb (from ontbijten = to have breakfast).

You can see that because:

it appears in a list of actions: ik douche, ontbijt en lees
it behaves like other ik-forms: ik douche, ik ontbijt, ik lees

As a noun, breakfast is het ontbijt:

Ik maak het ontbijt klaar. = I prepare the breakfast.
Na het ontbijt ga ik werken. = After breakfast I go to work.

Compare:

Ik ontbijt om zeven uur. = I have breakfast at seven. (verb)
Ik eet om zeven uur ontbijt. = I eat breakfast at seven. (uses the noun)
This second version is grammatically fine but less natural than simply Ik ontbijt om zeven uur.

Why is ik written only once before three verbs?

The subject ik applies to all three verbs. Dutch, like English, does not require you to repeat the subject each time:

Ik douche, ontbijt en lees het nieuws.
= I shower, (I) have breakfast and (I) read the news.

You can repeat ik for emphasis or rhythm:

Ik douche, ik ontbijt en ik lees het nieuws.

That is correct Dutch, but it sounds more deliberate or emphatic. The shorter version is more natural in everyday writing and speech.

Why are the verbs in the middle of the clause and not at the end?

Each action here is a (short) main clause with one verb:

ik douche
(ik) ontbijt
(ik) lees het nieuws

In main clauses with one verb, Dutch has subject–verb order (often called V2: the verb is in second position):

Ik douche.
Ik ontbijt.
Ik lees het nieuws.

Verbs move to the end mainly when:

there are multiple verbs (e.g. with auxiliaries: zal, heb, ben, moet, etc.), or
in subordinate clauses introduced by words like dat, omdat, wanneer.

Here, each part is just subject + one main verb, so the verb stays near the start, not at the end.

Why is it het nieuws and not de nieuws?

Nieuws is a neuter, mass noun in Dutch. It always takes het:

het nieuws = the news
Mooi nieuws! = Good news! (no article, still neuter/mass)
Het nieuws is goed. = The news is good.

There is no plural form of nieuws in normal Dutch.

You never say de nieuws. It is always het nieuws or sometimes just nieuws without article, depending on context.

Could I say Ik lees nieuws instead of Ik lees het nieuws?

You can say Ik lees nieuws, but the nuance is different:

Ik lees het nieuws.
→ I read the news (the general current news: newspapers, apps, websites, etc.).
This is the most natural phrase for everyday routines.
Ik lees nieuws.
→ I read news (some news items / some news in general).
This sounds more abstract or incomplete, and is used less commonly in this context.

For describing a daily habit, Dutch speakers almost always use het nieuws:

Ik lees elke ochtend het nieuws. = I read the news every morning.

Is there a difference between Ik douche and Ik neem een douche?

Yes, in what sounds most natural:

Ik douche.
→ Simple, standard Dutch: I shower.
Ik neem een douche.
→ Understandable, and you will hear it, but it often feels influenced by English.
Many speakers would still prefer Ik ga douchen (I’m going to take a shower) or simply Ik douche.

Typical, natural Dutch uses:

Ik douche elke ochtend. = I shower every morning.
Ik ga even douchen. = I’m going to take a quick shower.

Similarly, Ik ontbijt is more natural than Ik eet ontbijt for the idea of having breakfast.

Why is it ochtendroutine and not morgenroutine, since English says morning routine?

Dutch has two common words related to morning:

de ochtend = the morning (as a time of day)
de morgen = can also mean morning, but very often means tomorrow in modern usage

For compound nouns about the morning as a time of day, Dutch usually prefers ochtend:

ochtendroutine = morning routine
ochtendspits = morning rush hour
ochtendwandeling = morning walk

Morgenroutine would be unusual and may be misunderstood as something like tomorrow routine. So the natural phrase is ochtendroutine.