Learn Hardcore Dutch: Onze dochter houdt morgen een spreekbeurt over dieren in de klas. - Our daughter is giving an oral presentation about animals in class tomorrow.

The fact that you now see d + t together (houdt) is just a spelling issue; you still pronounce it like hout (same sound as hout = wood). So:

ik houd
hij / zij houdt (spelled with dt, pronounced like hout)

The sentence talks about tomorrow, but the verb is in the present tense. Why isn’t it a future tense in Dutch?

Dutch often uses the present tense for planned or scheduled future events, similar to English “She gives a talk tomorrow”.

So:

Onze dochter houdt morgen een spreekbeurt…
= Our daughter will give / is giving a talk tomorrow…

You can use zal for the future:

Onze dochter zal morgen een spreekbeurt houden…

Both are correct, but the simple present with a time word (morgen) is very common and sounds natural.

Could the sentence also start with morgen? For example: Morgen houdt onze dochter een spreekbeurt… Is that still correct?

Yes, that’s correct and very natural.

Both are fine:

Onze dochter houdt morgen een spreekbeurt over dieren in de klas.
Morgen houdt onze dochter een spreekbeurt over dieren in de klas.

When you move morgen (a time expression) to the beginning, Dutch requires inversion: the verb (houdt) must come right after the first element (morgen), and then the subject (onze dochter).

Why is it onze dochter and not ons dochter?

Because dochter is a “de-word” (common gender noun: de dochter).

The possessive our in Dutch has two forms:

ons before het-words: ons huis (het huis)
onze before de-words and all plural nouns: onze dochter (de dochter), onze kinderen

So:

de dochter → onze dochter
het kind → ons kind
de kinderen → onze kinderen

What exactly is a spreekbeurt? Is it the same as a presentatie?

A spreekbeurt is typically a school talk, often by a child in primary school:

A pupil prepares a topic (e.g. animals)
Talks about it in front of the class
Sometimes uses posters, pictures, etc.

Presentatie is more general and can be used for business, university, etc.

In everyday Dutch:

primary school child: een spreekbeurt houden
older student / adult: often een presentatie geven/houden

Why is it over dieren and not something like van dieren?

The preposition over is used for topics and subjects, just like about in English:

een spreekbeurt over dieren = a talk about animals
een boek over muziek = a book about music

van usually means of / from and would not be used for the topic of a talk in this sense.
Een spreekbeurt van dieren would sound as if the animals themselves are giving the talk.

Why is dieren in the plural? Could you say over een dier?

You could say over een dier:

…een spreekbeurt over een dier = a talk about one (specific) animal

But in context, over dieren means the talk is about animals in general—the whole category. Dutch often uses the plural when talking about topics in a general sense:

Ik lees graag over planten. = I like reading about plants (in general)
We leren over landen. = We learn about countries (in general)

What exactly does in de klas mean here? Is it the room or the group of pupils?

It can mean both, depending on context:

Literal place: in the classroom
- …in de klas = in the classroom (not, for example, in the auditorium)
The group: to/for her class
- Native speakers also understand it as “for the class”, because that’s who is there.

If you want to emphasize speaking in front of the class as an audience, you can also say:

voor de klas = in front of the class (physically standing at the front)

Why is it een spreekbeurt and not de spreekbeurt?

Een is the indefinite article (“a / an”). It’s used because this is just one talk, not a specific one that both speaker and listener already know about.

Compare:

Onze dochter houdt morgen een spreekbeurt.
= Our daughter is giving a talk tomorrow. (new information)
De spreekbeurt van onze dochter begint om tien uur.
= The talk (which we now know about) starts at ten.

Can you leave out onze and just say De dochter houdt morgen een spreekbeurt…?

Not in the same way as English.

De dochter in Dutch on its own sounds odd; it usually needs context like de dochter van mijn buurman (my neighbour’s daughter). To say our daughter, you almost always use onze dochter.

So:

Onze dochter houdt morgen een spreekbeurt… ✅
De dochter houdt morgen een spreekbeurt… ❌ (unnatural without extra context)

Could you say Onze dochter geeft morgen een spreekbeurt instead of houdt?

You will hear it, but houden is the standard and idiomatic verb with spreekbeurt.

een spreekbeurt houden ✅ (most natural)
een spreekbeurt geven ➜ understood, but sounds less standard / a bit off to many speakers

With presentatie, both are common:

een presentatie houden / geven ✅✅

So for spreekbeurt, stick with houden.