De docent beoordeelt het tentamen morgen.

The teacher will assess the exam tomorrow.

Breakdown of De docent beoordeelt het tentamen morgen.

• morgen: tomorrow
• de docent: the teacher
• het tentamen: the exam
• beoordelen: to assess

Questions & Answers about De docent beoordeelt het tentamen morgen.

Why is beoordeelt in the present tense if the action happens tomorrow? In English I’d usually say “will grade”.

Dutch very often uses the present tense to talk about the near or planned future, especially when there is a time expression like morgen (tomorrow), straks (later), volgende week (next week), etc.

So:

• De docent beoordeelt het tentamen morgen.
  = The teacher will grade the exam tomorrow.

is perfectly normal, even though English almost always uses will in this context.

Other examples:

• Morgen ga ik naar Amsterdam.
  = I’m going to Amsterdam tomorrow.
• Volgende week hebben we een tentamen.
  = We have an exam next week.

You can use a future auxiliary (zal) in Dutch, but you don’t have to. The present tense with a time word is usually enough and sounds very natural.

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Can I say De docent zal het tentamen morgen beoordelen instead? What’s the difference with the original sentence?

Yes, De docent zal het tentamen morgen beoordelen is grammatically correct and means essentially the same thing: The teacher will grade the exam tomorrow.

Nuance:

• De docent beoordeelt het tentamen morgen.
  – Very common, neutral way to talk about a scheduled future action.
  – Often sounds a bit more matter‑of‑fact or certain, like a timetable.

• De docent zal het tentamen morgen beoordelen.
  – Also fine, but zal can sometimes sound a bit more like:

  • a prediction (“he will probably do it”), or
  • an emphasis on the future as such. – In everyday speech, Dutch people often prefer the simple present with a time word instead of zal when the plan is fixed.

In many contexts, though, both versions are interchangeable and equally natural.

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Why is morgen at the end of the sentence? Could it go somewhere else?

In Dutch main clauses, the finite verb (here: beoordeelt) must be in second position (the V2 rule). The other elements after it are more flexible.

Your sentence:

• De docent beoordeelt het tentamen morgen.
  S (= De docent) – V (= beoordeelt) – O (= het tentamen) – Time (= morgen)

This word order is correct. You can also move morgen without changing the basic meaning:

1. De docent beoordeelt morgen het tentamen.
2. Morgen beoordeelt de docent het tentamen.

All three are grammatical:

• (1) and (2) are often a bit more common in spoken Dutch.
• (2) puts extra emphasis on morgen because it’s at the start of the sentence.

What you cannot do in a main clause is move the finite verb away from second position, e.g.:

• ✗ De docent het tentamen morgen beoordeelt. (wrong as a main clause)

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Is there any difference in meaning between De docent beoordeelt het tentamen morgen and De docent beoordeelt morgen het tentamen?

For everyday communication, they mean the same: The teacher will grade the exam tomorrow.

Subtle points:

• Many speakers find De docent beoordeelt morgen het tentamen slightly more natural, because adverbs of time often come soon after the verb.
• De docent beoordeelt het tentamen morgen is also fine; some speakers might perceive a very slight emphasis on morgen as the moment when this particular exam is graded, but this is quite subtle.

So you can safely use both. If you want to be extra idiomatic as a learner, De docent beoordeelt morgen het tentamen and Morgen beoordeelt de docent het tentamen are especially common patterns.

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What exactly does de docent mean? Is it just “teacher”, and how is it different from leraar?

Both docent and leraar are usually translated as “teacher”, but there are some nuances:

• de docent

  • Very commonly used for teachers in secondary school, college, and university.
  • In many contexts, especially higher education, docent is the default word.

• de leraar / de lerares

  • Strong association with primary and secondary school teachers.
  • leraar is grammatically masculine; lerares is feminine, though in modern usage many people just say leraar regardless of gender.

In practice, if you’re talking about someone who teaches at a school or university, de docent is almost always a safe and natural choice.

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What is tentamen exactly? Is it the same as examen or toets?

All three relate to tests, but they’re used a bit differently:

• het tentamen

  • In the Netherlands, this usually means an exam for one course or subject, often at university or higher education.
  • It’s typically a relatively important test, not just a quick quiz.

• het examen

  • Often refers to a more final, official exam, such as:
    • eindexamen (final school‑leaving exam),
    • or a big certification exam.
  • Can also be used more generally for “exam”, but in university settings tentamen is very common.

• de toets

  • More general: test or quiz.
  • Used a lot in primary and secondary education, often for smaller tests.

In many English translations, tentamen simply becomes “exam”, as in your sentence.

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Why is it het tentamen and not de tentamen? How do I know which article to use?

Dutch has two grammatical genders for nouns that affect the definite article:

• de for common gender nouns,
• het for neuter nouns.

tentamen is a neuter noun, so its definite form is:

• het tentamen

Unfortunately, there is no simple rule that lets you predict the gender of every noun. Some broad patterns exist (e.g. most diminutives take het), but many words must simply be memorised.

A few tips:

• Learn new nouns together with their article, e.g. het tentamen, not just tentamen.
• When in doubt in speech, many learners overuse de; natives will still understand you, but it’s good to slowly learn the correct de/het for common nouns.

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How is the verb beoordelen conjugated? What would the other forms look like?

The infinitive is beoordelen (“to assess / to grade”). It’s a regular verb.

Present tense:

• ik beoordeel – I assess / grade
• jij / je beoordeelt – you assess / grade
• hij / zij / het beoordeelt – he / she / it assesses / grades
• wij / we beoordelen – we assess / grade
• jullie beoordelen – you (plural) assess / grade
• zij / ze beoordelen – they assess / grade

In your sentence:

• De docent = third person singular
• so you use beoordeelt:
  De docent beoordeelt het tentamen morgen.

Past tense (for reference):

• ik / hij / zij beoordeelde – I / he / she assessed
• wij / jullie / zij beoordeelden – we / you (pl) / they assessed

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What is the difference between beoordelen and oordelen? Could I say De docent oordeelt het tentamen morgen?

You cannot say De docent oordeelt het tentamen morgen; that’s ungrammatical in Dutch.

Difference:

• beoordelen

  • Means to assess, to evaluate, to grade.
  • You can use it with a direct object:
    • De docent beoordeelt het tentamen.
    • The teacher grades the exam.

• oordelen

  • Means to judge, to form an opinion (often more general or abstract).
  • You usually don’t use it like “judge the exam” with a direct object in this context.
  • Typical patterns:
    • Hij oordeelt streng. – He judges strictly.
    • Over smaak valt niet te oordelen. – There’s no accounting for taste.

So for grading an exam, beoordelen is the correct verb.

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If I want to say “The teacher is grading the exam tomorrow” with a more explicit “is …ing” form, how would I do that in Dutch?

Dutch usually just uses the simple present for this, so:

• De docent beoordeelt het tentamen morgen.

already covers both:

• The teacher will grade the exam tomorrow.
• The teacher is grading the exam tomorrow.

If you really want a continuous‑like form, Dutch has constructions such as aan het + infinitive, but they’re more about what is happening right now, not about the future:

• De docent is het tentamen aan het beoordelen.
  = The teacher is (right now) in the process of grading the exam.

You would not normally use that for tomorrow. For the future, just use the simple present + time word, as in the original sentence.