Learn Hardcore Dutch: Na de spreekbeurt voelen wij ons opgelucht.

In Dutch, when you talk about how you feel emotionally or physically, you usually use the reflexive verb zich voelen (to feel, in the sense of to feel a certain way).

zich voelen = to feel (happy, tired, relieved, etc.)
It always comes with a reflexive pronoun:
- ik voel me
- jij voelt je
- hij/zij voelt zich
- wij voelen ons
- jullie voelen je
- zij voelen zich

So:

Wij voelen ons opgelucht. = We feel relieved.
Wij voelen opgelucht. sounds wrong in standard Dutch; without the reflexive pronoun, voelen is normally about physically feeling something with your hands or senses.

In the given sentence, the word order is changed because of the phrase at the beginning, but the core is still:

wij voelen ons opgelucht → voelen wij ons opgelucht (after fronting Na de spreekbeurt).

The ons is required because of the reflexive verb zich voelen.

Why does the sentence start with Na de spreekbeurt and then put voelen before wij? Isn’t Dutch supposed to be Subject–Verb word order?

Dutch main clauses follow the verb‑second (V2) rule:

The conjugated verb must be the second element in the sentence.
The first element can be the subject, but it can also be a time phrase, place phrase, object, etc.

Two versions of the same sentence:

Wij voelen ons opgelucht na de spreekbeurt.
- First element: Wij (subject)
- Second element: voelen (verb) → OK
Na de spreekbeurt voelen wij ons opgelucht.
- First element: Na de spreekbeurt (time phrase)
- Second element: voelen (verb)
- Subject wij comes after the verb.

Both are correct.
The difference is in emphasis:

Wij voelen ons opgelucht na de spreekbeurt.
Neutral: says we feel relieved, and adds after the talk at the end.
Na de spreekbeurt voelen wij ons opgelucht.
Emphasizes the time: It is after the talk that we feel relieved.

So the verb coming before wij is not inversion for questions; it’s normal V2 word order triggered by putting Na de spreekbeurt in first position.

What exactly does spreekbeurt mean? Is it just a “speech” or “presentation”?

Spreekbeurt is a specific kind of presentation, usually in a school context:

A pupil prepares a talk about a topic
Delivers it to the class
Often has to meet certain requirements (length, structure, maybe a poster or slides)

So:

spreekbeurt = a school presentation / oral report
It is especially used for children and teenagers in school.

Other related words:

presentatie – presentation (more general, also business, academic, etc.)
toespraak – speech (often more formal, like at a ceremony)
lezing – lecture, talk (more academic or public lecture)

In an adult professional context, Na de presentatie voelen wij ons opgelucht would be more natural than Na de spreekbeurt….

Why is it wij and not we in this sentence? Is there a difference?

Dutch has two forms for the first‑person plural subject:

wij – full form, more emphatic
we – reduced form, more neutral / unstressed, very common in speech

In most everyday situations, we is more frequent:

We voelen ons opgelucht na de spreekbeurt.

You use wij when:

You want to emphasize the subject:
- Wij voelen ons opgelucht (as opposed to someone else).
You are speaking or writing more formally.
You want to give the sentence a bit more weight or clarity.

In your sentence, both are grammatically correct:

Na de spreekbeurt voelen wij ons opgelucht. (slightly more emphasis on we)
Na de spreekbeurt voelen we ons opgelucht. (more typical in casual speech).

What is opgelucht grammatically? Is it a verb form or an adjective?

Opgelucht is originally a past participle of the verb opluchten (to relieve), but in this sentence it functions as an adjective: relieved.

So:

Verb: opluchten – to relieve
Past participle: opgelucht
Adjectival use: opgelucht = relieved

Compare:

De operatie heeft hem opgelucht.
Literally: The operation has relieved him. (past participle in a verbal construction)
Hij is opgelucht.
He is relieved. (adjective)
Wij voelen ons opgelucht.
We feel relieved. (adjective after voelen)

In your sentence, opgelucht describes the state or feeling of wij; it is not an active verb form there.

Could I also say Na de spreekbeurt zijn wij opgelucht? If yes, is there any difference in meaning?

Yes, you can absolutely say:

Na de spreekbeurt zijn wij opgelucht.

That means the same in English: After the talk, we are relieved.

The difference is subtle:

wij zijn opgelucht
– simple statement of a state: we are in a relieved condition.
wij voelen ons opgelucht
– more explicitly about how we experience ourselves: we feel relieved.

In many contexts they are interchangeable, and both sound natural. Voelen (ons) can make the sentence slightly more about subjective experience, but the distinction is not very strong in everyday speech.

Why is it Na de spreekbeurt and not Na spreekbeurt without the article?

In Dutch, countable nouns almost always need an article (de, het, een) or some other determiner (mijn, die, etc.), unless used in special patterns.

Spreekbeurt is a countable noun:

een spreekbeurt – a presentation
de spreekbeurt – the presentation

You normally cannot say Na spreekbeurt by itself in standard Dutch; it sounds incomplete. You need something like:

Na de spreekbeurt – after the (specific) presentation
Na een spreekbeurt – after a presentation
Na mijn spreekbeurt – after my presentation

So de is just the normal definite article, referring to a specific talk that speaker and listener both know about.

What is the difference between na and nadat? Could I say Nadat de spreekbeurt is afgelopen, voelen wij ons opgelucht?

Yes, you can, and it’s a good contrast:

na is a preposition: it must be followed by a noun (phrase).
- Na de spreekbeurt – after the talk
- Na het eten – after the meal
nadat is a subordinating conjunction: it is followed by a clause (a subject and a verb).
- Nadat de spreekbeurt is afgelopen, voelen wij ons opgelucht.
  After the talk is finished, we feel relieved.
- Nadat we gegeten hebben, gaan we weg.
  After we have eaten, we leave.

So:

Your original: Na de spreekbeurt voelen wij ons opgelucht.
Structure: [Prepositional phrase] + [main clause]
Alternative: Nadat de spreekbeurt is afgelopen, voelen wij ons opgelucht.
Structure: [Subordinate clause] + [main clause]

Both are correct. The nadat version is slightly more explicit and a bit longer, because it adds the verb is afgelopen.

Why is the reflexive pronoun ons and not zich or something else?

The reflexive pronoun in Dutch agrees with the person and number of the subject. For zich voelen, the forms are:

ik voel me
jij/je voelt je
u voelt zich
hij/zij/het voelt zich
wij voelen ons
jullie voelen je
zij voelen zich

So with wij, the matching reflexive is ons.

Wij voelen ons opgelucht. – We feel relieved.
Hij voelt zich opgelucht. – He feels relieved.
Ik voel me opgelucht. – I feel relieved.

Zich is only used with third person singular or plural, and with the formal u. It does not go with wij.

Why doesn’t opgelucht change for plural wij? Shouldn’t it be something like a plural form?

Adjectives in Dutch do not change for number (singular vs plural) when they come after a verb like zijn, worden, blijven, lijken, voelen etc., and directly describe the subject.

So:

Ik ben opgelucht.
Wij zijn opgelucht.
Hij voelt zich opgelucht.
Zij voelen zich opgelucht.

In all cases, opgelucht stays the same.

Adjectives really change form (adding -e) when they are before a noun:

een opgeluchte man – a relieved man
de opgeluchte leraren – the relieved teachers

But after zijn, voelen (zich), etc., the adjective is in the predicative position and does not take -e, regardless of singular or plural. Hence: wij … opgelucht, not opgeluchte.

Could I move na de spreekbeurt to a different place in the sentence? Are these all correct:
Na de spreekbeurt voelen wij ons opgelucht, Wij voelen ons opgelucht na de spreekbeurt, Wij voelen ons na de spreekbeurt opgelucht?

Yes, all three of these are grammatically correct, but they differ slightly in rhythm and emphasis:

Na de spreekbeurt voelen wij ons opgelucht.
- Time phrase first, strong emphasis on after the talk.
- Very natural if you contrast with the time before the talk.
Wij voelen ons opgelucht na de spreekbeurt.
- More neutral, common structure: subject + verb + rest.
- Time phrase at the end, which is normal in Dutch.
Wij voelen ons na de spreekbeurt opgelucht.
- Also correct.
- Here, na de spreekbeurt is inserted before the final adjective.
- Slightly more focus on the change over time: it’s specifically after the talk that the feeling of relief applies.

One thing that is not natural is putting ons after the time phrase, like:

✗ Wij voelen na de spreekbeurt ons opgelucht.

Clitic pronouns like me, je, ons typically stay right after the conjugated verb, before other elements like time phrases or adjectives.