Learn Hardcore Dutch: Ons buurmeisje belt aan om te vragen of ze met de hond mag wandelen. - Our neighbor girl rings the bell to ask if she may walk the dog.

ons is used with singular neuter nouns (words that take het)
onze is used with:
- all plural nouns, and
- singular common-gender nouns (words that take de)

The noun buurmeisje is a diminutive (it ends in -je), and all diminutives in Dutch are neuter and take het:

het buurmeisje → therefore: ons buurmeisje
compare: de buurvrouw → onze buurvrouw

What exactly does buurmeisje mean? Is it just neighbor girl?

Buurmeisje literally combines:

buur = neighbor
meisje = girl (diminutive of meid/meis)

So buurmeisje is:

the girl who lives next door / in the neighboring house
often understood as the neighbor’s daughter (if she is a girl)

In natural English you would usually translate:

ons buurmeisje → the girl next door or our neighbor’s daughter
(rather than the very literal our neighbor girl)

Why do we say belt aan? What does aan add here?

Bellen and aanbellen are related but different:

bellen by itself usually means to call (on the phone)
aanbellen means to ring (the doorbell)

Aanbellen is a separable verb:

infinitive: aanbellen
in a main clause (present): Ons buurmeisje belt aan.
- finite verb (belt) goes in second position
- the separable prefix (aan) goes to the end of the clause

In other forms, the pieces come back together:

perfect: Ons buurmeisje heeft aangebeld.
subordinate clause: Als ons buurmeisje aanbelt, …

Could you explain the meaning and use of om te vragen here?

Om te + infinitive often expresses purpose: in order to do something.

In this sentence:

belt aan om te vragen ≈ rings (the doorbell) to ask / in order to ask

So the structure is:

main action: Ons buurmeisje belt aan
purpose: om te vragen (why is she ringing? to ask something)

You will often see this pattern:

Ik ga naar de winkel om brood te kopen.
→ I’m going to the shop (in order) to buy bread.

Why is it of ze and not als ze or dat ze?

Dutch of here means whether / if in an indirect yes‑no question:

… om te vragen of ze met de hond mag wandelen.
→ … to ask if / whether she may walk the dog.

Contrast with:

als = if in a conditional sense:
- Als ze tijd heeft, wandelt ze met de hond.
  → If she has time, she walks the dog.
dat = that introducing a statement:
- Ze zegt dat ze met de hond wandelt.
  → She says that she walks the dog.

So:

use of for whether/if (yes‑no question, indirect)
use als for if (condition)
use dat for that (reported statement)

What is the difference between ze and zij here?

Both ze and zij can mean she (or they, depending on context). The main difference is stress:

ze is the unstressed form
zij is the stressed / contrastive form

In this sentence there is no special emphasis on she, so the unstressed form ze is normal:

of ze met de hond mag wandelen
→ whether she may walk the dog

If you wanted to stress it (for example, she, not someone else), you could say:

of zij met de hond mag wandelen (emphasis on zij)

Why is the word order of ze met de hond mag wandelen and not like English if she may walks with the dog?

Dutch subordinate clauses (introduced by of, dat, als, etc.) have a characteristic word order:

Subordinating conjunction: of
Subject: ze
Other elements: met de hond
Verbs at the end: mag wandelen

So: of + ze + met de hond + mag wandelen

Key points:

In Dutch subordinate clauses, all verb forms go to the end of the clause.
When there are two verbs (modal + infinitive), they cluster at the end:
- … of ze met de hond mag wandelen.

This contrasts with English, where the finite verb usually stays closer to the subject:

Dutch: … of ze met de hond mag wandelen.
English: … if she may walk the dog.

What does mag mean here? Why not kan?

Mag is the finite form of mogen and mainly expresses permission:

mogen ≈ may / to be allowed to

So:

ze mag wandelen → she may walk / she is allowed to walk

Kan (from kunnen) expresses ability / possibility:

kunnen ≈ can / to be able to

Compare:

Ze mag met de hond wandelen.
→ She is allowed to walk the dog. (permission)
Ze kan met de hond wandelen.
→ She can walk the dog. (she is able to; it is possible)

In the sentence given, the girl is asking for permission, so mag is the appropriate verb.

Does met de hond wandelen mean to walk with the dog or to walk the dog?

Literally, met de hond wandelen means to walk with the dog.

However, idiomatically it is very often used where English would simply say:

to walk the dog / to take the dog for a walk

So:

Ze wil met de hond wandelen.
→ She wants to walk the dog / take the dog for a walk.

English uses a transitive verb walk the dog; Dutch uses wandelen (intransitive) plus met de hond to express the same idea.

Why is it de hond and not het hond?

In Dutch, nouns have grammatical gender:

de-words: common gender (masculine/feminine)
het-words: neuter gender

Hond is a common-gender noun, so it takes de:

de hond = the dog

There is nothing special about this in the sentence; it simply follows the normal gender of the noun:

met de hond = with the dog (here, probably our/the family dog in context)

Could you briefly explain wandelen versus lopen?

Both can be translated as to walk, but there is a nuance:

wandelen
- to go for a walk, to stroll, to walk in a leisurely way
- very natural with dogs, in parks, etc.
lopen
- more general to walk / to go on foot, sometimes also to run (in certain contexts)
- used more broadly: naar school lopen (to walk to school), etc.

With dogs, met de hond wandelen is more idiomatic than met de hond lopen when you mean take the dog for a walk.