Learn Hardcore Dutch: Zij heeft haar spreekbeurt meerdere keren moeten oefenen om minder zenuwachtig te zijn. - She has had to practise her presentation several times in order to be less nervous.

In Dutch, when you put a modal verb like moeten, kunnen, willen, mogen, zullen into the perfect tense together with another verb, you normally get a double infinitive:

Present: Zij moet haar spreekbeurt oefenen.
Perfect: Zij heeft haar spreekbeurt moeten oefenen.

So the structure is:

[subject] + heeft + (object/adverbs) + [modal infinitive] + [main verb infinitive]

Why not just say Zij moest haar spreekbeurt meerdere keren oefenen?

You can say Zij moest haar spreekbeurt meerdere keren oefenen. It’s also correct Dutch.

The difference is mainly:

Zij heeft haar spreekbeurt meerdere keren moeten oefenen.
- Present perfect.
- Very normal in spoken Dutch for past events.
- Focuses on the result/experience in the past that is relevant to “now”.
Zij moest haar spreekbeurt meerdere keren oefenen.
- Simple past (onvoltooid verleden tijd).
- More common in written narratives or storytelling.
- Tells a past story, a bit more detached from the present.

In everyday speech, Dutch people often prefer the perfect tense, so the original sentence sounds very natural in conversation.

Why is there no geoefend or gemoeten in the sentence? I expected a ge- form in the perfect tense.

Good observation: in a “normal” perfect tense you’d expect something like geoefend or gemoeten.

But with modal verbs + another verb, Dutch usually uses infinitives instead of participles:

Without another verb:
- Zij heeft geoefend. (She has practised.)
- Zij heeft gemoeten. (She has had to. — quite rare, and usually only when nothing follows.)
With another verb:
- Zij heeft haar spreekbeurt moeten oefenen.
  (NOT: heeft haar spreekbeurt gemoeten oefenen)
- Hij heeft zijn presentatie nog een keer moeten geven.
- Ik heb het niet kunnen vinden.

So when a modal is followed by a main verb, in the perfect you get:

heeft + [modal infinitive] + [main infinitive]
heeft moeten oefenen, heeft kunnen komen, heeft willen praten, etc.

Why is the order moeten oefenen and not oefenen moeten?

In a verb cluster with a modal + main verb in the perfect tense, the standard order in Dutch is:

[modal] + [main verb]
moeten oefenen, kunnen komen, willen leren, etc.

The basic present-tense sentence is:

Zij moet haar spreekbeurt oefenen.

When you make it perfect, you simply add heeft and move the verb cluster to the end, keeping the same order of modals:

Zij heeft haar spreekbeurt moeten oefenen.

Putting them as oefenen moeten would sound incorrect in standard Dutch here.

What exactly is a spreekbeurt? Is it just any presentation?

A spreekbeurt is a specific type of presentation in Dutch:

It is usually:
- an oral presentation at school, especially in primary school;
- prepared in advance on a topic (animals, hobbies, countries, etc.);
- given in front of the class.

Typical translation: “(school) talk”, “class presentation”, or “oral report”.

For more general or adult contexts, Dutch more often uses words like:

presentatie – presentation
lezing – lecture
toespraak – speech

So spreekbeurt strongly suggests a school context.

Why is it haar spreekbeurt and not de spreekbeurt or een spreekbeurt?

Each choice is possible, but the meaning changes:

haar spreekbeurt – her presentation (the one she has to give)
→ This is the most natural here, because we’re talking about the talk that belongs to her.
de spreekbeurt – the presentation
→ Refers to a specific, known presentation, but doesn’t explicitly say it’s hers.
→ Could be understood from context, but feels less personal.
een spreekbeurt – a presentation
→ Just any presentation, not clearly hers; sounds odd if we know it’s her assignment.

In real school-related Dutch, haar spreekbeurt (or zijn spreekbeurt) is exactly what people say.

What does meerdere keren mean, and how is it different from veel keer or vaak?

Meerdere keren means “several times / multiple times”.

meerdere keren
- neutral, fairly precise: more than once, but not extremely many
- similar to several times / a number of times
veel keer / veel keren
- literally “many times”
- not wrong, but native speakers more often say:
  - heel vaak (very often)
  - heel veel keer (very many times)
- Veel keer on its own is acceptable but sounds less idiomatic than heel vaak.
vaak
- often, focuses on frequency, not on counting exact repetitions.

In your sentence, meerdere keren nicely expresses that she practised a few to several times, without exaggerating.

Why is it keren (plural) and not keer with meerdere?

The noun keer (time, as in “times you do something”) behaves a bit specially:

With numerals you usually keep keer singular:
- twee keer, drie keer, vijf keer (two/three/five times)
With quantifiers like:
- meerdere, enkele, vele, sommige, etc. you normally use the plural:
- meerdere keren (several times)
- enkele keren (a few times)
- vele keren (many times)

So meerdere keren is the standard, idiomatic form.
Meerdere keer sounds wrong to native speakers.

What does the construction om minder zenuwachtig te zijn mean exactly?

Om … te + infinitive is a very common Dutch pattern meaning “in order to …” or simply “to …” (expressing purpose).

om minder zenuwachtig te zijn
= in order to be less nervous

Structure:

om – marks purpose (like in order)
minder zenuwachtig – “less nervous”
te
- zijn – “to be”

So the whole sentence structure is:

She has had to practise her presentation several times in order to be less nervous.

Why do we need te zijn after minder zenuwachtig? Why not just om minder zenuwachtig?

In Dutch, you cannot just say om minder zenuwachtig. You must have a verb in the om … te construction.

zenuwachtig is an adjective (“nervous”), not a verb.
You need a linking verb (zijn = to be) to form a predicate:
- om minder zenuwachtig te zijn
  (literally: “in order to be less nervous”)

Compare:

om minder fouten te maken – in order to make fewer mistakes
om op tijd te zijn – in order to be on time
om beter voorbereid te zijn – in order to be better prepared

So the pattern is always om + [something] + te + [verb], and here the verb is zijn.

Could we also say om minder zenuwachtig te worden instead of te zijn? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say both, but there is a nuance:

om minder zenuwachtig te zijn
- focus on the state during the presentation
- she practises so that she will be less nervous at that moment.
om minder zenuwachtig te worden
- focus on the change over time
- she practises so that she becomes less nervous (e.g. over several practice sessions).

Both are grammatically correct and idiomatic.
In context of preparing for a one-time event (the talk itself), om minder zenuwachtig te zijn is very natural.

Why is it Zij and not Ze? Can I say Ze heeft haar spreekbeurt…?

Yes, you can absolutely say:

Ze heeft haar spreekbeurt meerdere keren moeten oefenen om minder zenuwachtig te zijn.

The difference is:

zij – stressed form, used for emphasis or contrast:
- Zij heeft haar spreekbeurt meerdere keren moeten oefenen (not someone else).
ze – unstressed form, the default pronoun in neutral statements.

At the beginning of a sentence, both are allowed. Using zij can sound a bit more emphatic or slightly more formal. In everyday speech, ze is more frequent unless you want to stress she.

Why is zenuwachtig used here instead of nerveus? Are they the same?

Zenuwachtig and nerveus are close in meaning, but not completely identical in feel:

zenuwachtig
- the most common, everyday word for “nervous”
- fits perfectly with things like:
  - zenuwachtig voor een spreekbeurt / examen / afspraak
- sounds very natural and neutral.
nerveus
- exists in Dutch and is understood
- can sound slightly more medical or stronger in some contexts
  (e.g. someone who is generally very tense or jittery)
- less common in this kind of school-presentation sentence.

So in this context, zenuwachtig is the most idiomatic and natural choice.