Learn Hardcore Dutch: Zij legt twee boterhammen met pindakaas op zijn ontbijtbord. - She puts two slices of bread with peanut butter on his breakfast plate.

Zij legt twee boterhammen met pindakaas op zijn ontbijtbord.

She puts two slices of bread with peanut butter on his breakfast plate.

Breakdown of Zij legt twee boterhammen met pindakaas op zijn ontbijtbord.

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Questions & Answers about Zij legt twee boterhammen met pindakaas op zijn ontbijtbord.

Why is it “Zij legt” and not something like “Zij zet” or “Zij doet”?

Dutch has several common verbs for putting something somewhere:

leggen – to lay something down so that it ends up lying (usually flat)
zetten – to put/place something so that it ends up standing (upright)
doen – to put/do in a very general way (more informal or vague)

A boterham (slice of bread) lies flat on a plate, so Dutch uses leggen:

Zij legt twee boterhammen op het bord.
She lays two slices of bread on the plate.

You would use zetten for things that “stand”:
Hij zet de beker op tafel. – He puts the cup on the table.

Doen here would sound very colloquial or childish:
Zij doet twee boterhammen op het bord. – understandable, but not ideal standard Dutch in a neutral sentence.

What is the difference between “zij” and “ze”? Could I say “Ze legt…” instead?

Both zij and ze mean “she” (or “they”, in other contexts):

zij – stressed form, used for emphasis or in formal / careful speech
ze – unstressed, more common in everyday spoken Dutch

In your sentence, both are correct:

Zij legt twee boterhammen… – neutral, but with a bit more weight on she (for example, contrasting with someone else).
Ze legt twee boterhammen… – the most natural in everyday conversation.

So yes, “Ze legt twee boterhammen met pindakaas op zijn ontbijtbord.” is perfectly fine.

How is “legt” formed from “leggen”, and what tense is it?

The infinitive is leggen (to lay/put down lying).

Present tense conjugation:

ik leg – I lay
jij/je legt – you lay
hij/zij/ze legt – he/she lays
wij/we leggen – we lay
jullie leggen – you (plural) lay
zij/ze leggen – they lay

So legt is 3rd person singular, present tense.

Past tense:

ik/hij/zij legde – I/he/she laid
wij legden – we laid

Perfect tense:

heeft gelegd – has laid

Example: Zij heeft twee boterhammen op zijn ontbijtbord gelegd.

Why is it “twee boterhammen” and not “twee sandwiches” or “twee broodjes”?

Dutch makes a distinction that English often doesn’t:

boterham – literally “butter slice”, meaning a slice of bread, often with something on it; the normal word for what many learners think of as a sandwich in the Netherlands.
broodje – a small bread roll (bun) or sometimes a snack-type sandwich from a shop.
English sandwich is often borrowed in Dutch to mean a fancier, café-style sandwich.

At a typical Dutch breakfast:

Ik eet twee boterhammen met kaas. – I eat two slices of bread with cheese.

So “twee boterhammen met pindakaas” is the natural way to say “two peanut-butter sandwiches” in an everyday home context.

Why is “boterhammen” plural and how is that plural formed?

The singular is:

de boterham – one slice of bread / one sandwich

The plural:

de boterhammen – two or more slices/sandwiches

Most Dutch nouns that end in a consonant take -en in the plural.
Because boterham ends in -m, you get:

boterham → boterhammen (double the m before adding -en)

So twee boterhammen is “two slices/sandwiches”.

Why is there no article before “pindakaas”? Why not “met de pindakaas”?

Pindakaas (peanut butter) is treated like a mass/uncountable noun here, similar to “bread”, “milk”, “coffee” in English:

met pindakaas – with (some) peanut butter

This is the normal way to talk about what is on your bread:

een boterham met kaas
een boterham met jam
een boterham met pindakaas

If you said “met de pindakaas”, it would sound like you are referring to some specific identified peanut butter, for example:

de pindakaas die je gisteren gekocht hebt – the peanut butter you bought yesterday

That’s unusual in this context, so no article is natural: met pindakaas.

What does “met pindakaas” describe exactly: the verb or the bread?

“met pindakaas” describes the boterhammen, not the action leggen.

The structure is:

twee boterhammen met pindakaas – one noun phrase
op zijn ontbijtbord – prepositional phrase of place

So the meaning is: “She puts two peanut-butter slices of bread on his breakfast plate.”

If it were modifying the verb, it would imply “She, using peanut butter, puts two slices of bread…”, which isn’t what’s meant here.

Why is it “op zijn ontbijtbord” and not “in zijn ontbijtbord” or another preposition?

In Dutch, as in English, on a plate uses a preposition meaning “on top of”:

op – on, onto, on top of
in – in, inside

Food lies on top of a plate:

op zijn ontbijtbord – on his breakfast plate

You would use in for containers:

in de kom – in the bowl
in de pan – in the pan

So op zijn ontbijtbord is the correct preposition combination.

What exactly is “ontbijtbord”, and why is it one word?

Ontbijtbord is a compound noun:

ontbijt – breakfast
bord – plate

Together: ontbijtbord – breakfast plate (a plate used for breakfast, usually a slightly smaller plate).

Dutch very often joins nouns into one word:

ontbijtbord (not ontbijt bord)
koffiemok (coffee mug)
keukentafel (kitchen table)

The base noun is het bord (neuter), so:

het bord – the plate
het ontbijtbord – the breakfast plate

In your sentence there is no article because “zijn” (his) already fills that role: zijn ontbijtbord.

What does “zijn” mean here, and could it ever mean something other than “his”?

In this sentence, zijn is the possessive pronoun:

zijn ontbijtbord – his breakfast plate

Contrasts:

haar ontbijtbord – her breakfast plate
mijn ontbijtbord – my breakfast plate
jouw ontbijtbord – your breakfast plate (singular, informal)

In some formal or old-fashioned contexts, zijn can be used generically like English “one’s”:

Ieder heeft zijn eigen mening. – Everyone has his (one’s) own opinion.

But in normal modern use, especially here, zijn just means “his” (referring to some male person previously known in the context).

Is the word order “…twee boterhammen met pindakaas op zijn ontbijtbord” fixed, or can I change it?

The given order is:

Zij legt [twee boterhammen met pindakaas] [op zijn ontbijtbord].

Neutral order in Dutch main clauses is often:

Subject – Verb – Direct object – Other information (place/time/etc.)

So this sentence follows that pattern.

You can change the order for emphasis:

Zij legt op zijn ontbijtbord twee boterhammen met pindakaas.

This puts more focus on the place (on his breakfast plate). Grammatically it is still correct; it just sounds a bit more marked/emphatic.

You normally would not split “twee boterhammen met pindakaas”, because it’s one clear noun phrase.

How would I say this in the past tense or future tense?

Past simple (imperfect):

Zij legde twee boterhammen met pindakaas op zijn ontbijtbord.
She laid two peanut-butter sandwiches on his breakfast plate.

Perfect tense:

Zij heeft twee boterhammen met pindakaas op zijn ontbijtbord gelegd.
She has laid / put two peanut-butter sandwiches on his breakfast plate.

Future tense with zullen:

Zij zal twee boterhammen met pindakaas op zijn ontbijtbord leggen.
She will put two peanut-butter sandwiches on his breakfast plate.

In everyday speech, Dutch often uses the present tense with a time word for future:

Morgen legt zij twee boterhammen met pindakaas op zijn ontbijtbord.
Tomorrow she will put…

Is there any important difference in pronunciation I should know in this sentence?

Some key points:

zij – the ij sounds roughly like English “eye” [zay].
legt – the g is a guttural sound from the back of the throat (like the “ch” in Scottish loch), and the final -t is clearly pronounced: [leḫt].
boterhammen – stress on the first syllable: BO-ter-ham-men.
pindakaas – stress on the first and last part: PIN-da-KAAS.
ontbijt- – the t at the end of ontbijt is actually pronounced, even in the compound: [ont-bayt-bort].

Practising these sounds will make the sentence sound much more natural.