Learn Hardcore Dutch: Anna bespreekt haar scriptie morgen met de professor. - Anna is discussing her thesis with the professor tomorrow.

You can use a future form (zal bespreken, gaat bespreken), but it is not required. The present tense plus a time word is very normal and neutral in Dutch.

How is bespreken conjugated, and why do we use bespreekt with Anna?

The infinitive is bespreken (to discuss). The stem is bespreek.

Present tense:

ik bespreek (I discuss)
jij / je bespreekt (you discuss, singular informal)
hij / zij / Anna bespreekt (he / she / Anna discusses)
wij / we bespreken (we discuss)
jullie bespreken (you discuss, plural)
zij / ze bespreken (they discuss)

Anna is third person singular (like zij = she), so you use the -t ending: bespreekt.

Could I say Anna bespreekt over haar scriptie? In English we say discuss about.

No. With bespreken, Dutch does not use a preposition like over.

Correct: Anna bespreekt haar scriptie met de professor.
(literally: Anna discusses her thesis with the professor.)
Incorrect: Anna bespreekt over haar scriptie met de professor.

If you want to use over, you need a different verb, such as praten or spreken:

Anna praat over haar scriptie met de professor.
Anna spreekt over haar scriptie met de professor.

So:

bespreken + direct object → iets bespreken (to discuss something)
praten / spreken + over → over iets praten / spreken (to talk about something)

Is bespreken a separable verb? Does anything get split off?

No, bespreken is not separable.

A good rule of thumb: verbs with prefixes like be-, ge-, ver-, her-, ont-, mis- are not separable. So you never split be from spreken.

Examples with bespreken:

Ik bespreek het met haar.
We hebben het al besproken.

The parts stay together.

Why is it haar scriptie and not zij scriptie or ze scriptie?

haar is a possessive word (like her in English).
zij / ze is a subject pronoun (like she).

zij / ze = she
haar = her (possessive: belonging to her)

So:

Zij schrijft haar scriptie.
She writes her thesis.

In your sentence, scriptie belongs to Anna, so you need the possessive form haar, not the subject zij.

What exactly does scriptie mean? Is it like a script or just an essay?

scriptie is a specific academic term. It usually means:

a big research paper or thesis at the end of a degree:
- bachelor’s thesis
- master’s thesis
- sometimes a final project paper in secondary or higher education

It is more substantial than a normal essay and does not mean script (for a film or play). For a script, Dutch normally uses scenario, script, or toneelstuk (for a play).

So haar scriptie here is best understood as her thesis.

Why is it de professor and not het professor?

In Dutch, professor is a de-word:

de professor (the professor)
een professor (a professor)

In general, most nouns that refer to people are de-words, regardless of whether the person is male or female:

de docent (the teacher)
de student (the student)
de collega (the colleague)
de professor

So het professor is incorrect.

Can you leave out the article and say met professor instead of met de professor?

Normally, you keep the article:

Anna bespreekt haar scriptie morgen met de professor.

You can drop the article in some special cases:

When directly addressing someone as a title:
- Professor, mag ik u iets vragen?
  (Here Professor works like Doctor or Professor as a form of address.)
In some fixed expressions or headlines.

But in a normal sentence talking about someone (not directly to them), you usually need the article:

Ze heeft een afspraak met de professor. ✅
Ze heeft een afspraak met professor. ❌ (sounds wrong/unfinished)

Why is morgen placed between haar scriptie and met de professor? Could I move it?

Yes, you can move morgen. Dutch allows some flexibility with adverb placement.

Your sentence:

Anna bespreekt haar scriptie morgen met de professor.

Other natural options:

Anna bespreekt morgen haar scriptie met de professor.
Morgen bespreekt Anna haar scriptie met de professor.

Rough guidelines:

Time adverbs like morgen often come early in the “middle field” of the sentence, usually before other information like met de professor.
If you put morgen at the very beginning (Morgen bespreekt Anna...), you emphasize the time: Tomorrow, Anna will...

All of the three versions above are correct; the differences are mostly in emphasis and style, not in grammar.

Which word order is more natural: Anna bespreekt haar scriptie morgen met de professor or Anna bespreekt morgen haar scriptie met de professor?

Both are correct and natural. Many speakers might slightly prefer:

Anna bespreekt morgen haar scriptie met de professor.

because a common “default” order for adverbs is time – manner – place, and morgen is the time element that tends to come earlier in the middle field.

But:

Anna bespreekt haar scriptie morgen met de professor.

is also fine and doesn’t sound wrong. It just puts a bit more “weight” on haar scriptie before you mention when.

Could I say Morgen zal Anna haar scriptie met de professor bespreken instead? How does that differ?

Yes, you can. That sentence is also correct:

Morgen zal Anna haar scriptie met de professor bespreken.

Differences:

Tense / aspect
- bespreekt
  - morgen: normal, neutral way to talk about a planned future event.
- zal bespreken: more explicitly “future”, sometimes a bit more formal or deliberate.
Word order
With zal, Dutch uses the V2 rule (finite verb in second position, infinitive at the end):
- Morgen zal Anna haar scriptie met de professor bespreken.

All three variants are acceptable:

Anna bespreekt haar scriptie morgen met de professor.
Morgen bespreekt Anna haar scriptie met de professor.
Morgen zal Anna haar scriptie met de professor bespreken.

The meaning is very close; context and style decide which you pick.

How would I turn this into a yes–no question in Dutch?

For a yes–no question in Dutch, you put the finite verb first.

From:

Anna bespreekt haar scriptie morgen met de professor.

to:

Bespreekt Anna haar scriptie morgen met de professor?
= Is Anna going to discuss her thesis with the professor tomorrow?

You can still move morgen if you like:

Bespreekt Anna morgen haar scriptie met de professor?
Bespreekt Anna haar scriptie met de professor morgen? (possible, but less neutral)

The key point is: bespreekt comes first.

How do you pronounce bespreekt and scriptie?

Approximate pronunciation (IPA + rough English guide):

bespreekt → /bəˈspreːkt/
- be-: like unstressed beh
- -spreek-: like sprake in sprake but with a long ay sound (like spray without y)
- final -t is clearly pronounced
scriptie → /ˈskrɪp.si/
- scr-: like skr in scream
- -i-: short i, like i in bit
- -tie: sounds like see

So roughly:

bespreekt ≈ buh-SPRAYKT
scriptie ≈ SKRIP-see