Learn Hardcore Dutch: De stagiair bespreekt zijn onderzoek met de docent. - The intern discusses his research with the teacher.

You cannot say het stagiair; that would be grammatically wrong. There is no logical rule you can always apply for gender; you mostly have to learn it word by word (though there are some patterns).

Why is the verb bespreekt in second position? Could I say De stagiair zijn onderzoek bespreekt met de docent?

Dutch main clauses usually follow the rule:

Position 1: Topic (often the subject) + Position 2: Finite verb

So:

De stagiair (subject/topic) = position 1
bespreekt (conjugated verb) = position 2

The rest of the information (zijn onderzoek met de docent) comes after that.

✔ Correct:

De stagiair bespreekt zijn onderzoek met de docent.

❌ Incorrect as a neutral statement:

De stagiair zijn onderzoek bespreekt met de docent.

Here the finite verb bespreekt is pushed out of second position, which breaks the standard word order for a simple main clause. That word order is only possible in subordinate clauses (with a conjunction like dat):

… dat de stagiair zijn onderzoek met de docent bespreekt.

In a normal standalone sentence, keep the conjugated verb in second position.

What exactly is the difference between bespreken and spreken?

They are related but not interchangeable:

spreken = to speak
- Focus on the act of speaking or language use.
- Examples:
  - Hij spreekt Nederlands. – He speaks Dutch.
  - Kunnen we later spreken? – Can we speak later?
bespreken = to discuss / to talk about (something specific)
- Focus on discussing a particular topic or item.
- Examples:
  - We bespreken het plan. – We are discussing the plan.
  - Ze bespreekt haar scriptie met haar begeleider. – She discusses her thesis with her supervisor.

In your sentence, bespreekt is used because the intern is going over a specific piece of work (zijn onderzoek) with the teacher.

Saying:

De stagiair spreekt zijn onderzoek met de docent.

sounds wrong in Dutch; spreken normally doesn’t take a direct object like zijn onderzoek in this meaning.

Why is it zijn onderzoek? What gender is onderzoek, and why not de onderzoek?

Two separate things are going on here:

The noun onderzoek
- onderzoek (research) is a het-word:
  - het onderzoek = the research / the study
- But in your sentence we’re not using the article het, we’re using a possessive pronoun (zijn).
The possessive zijn
- zijn = his / its (for masculine or neuter owners)
- It agrees with the owner, not with the noun onderzoek.
- The owner here is de stagiair, which is grammatically common gender and usually treated as masculine by default in such examples.
- So we get: zijn onderzoek = his research.

So:

het onderzoek – the research
zijn onderzoek – his research (research belonging to the intern)

You don’t say de onderzoek; that’s incorrect because onderzoek is a het-word, so its definite article is always het.

Can I say haar onderzoek instead of zijn onderzoek if the intern is female?

Yes.

haar = her
zijn = his / its

The possessive pronoun should ideally match the natural gender (the real-life gender) of the person:

If the intern is male: De stagiair bespreekt zijn onderzoek met de docent.
If the intern is female: De stagiair bespreekt haar onderzoek met de docent.

In older or very formal Dutch, zijn is sometimes used generically when gender is unknown, but in modern language people generally prefer haar for women and zijn for men.

Note: stagiair is grammatically masculine; there is also stagiaire (feminine form), especially in Belgian Dutch and more formal contexts. Then you would naturally say:

De stagiaire bespreekt haar onderzoek met de docent.

How is bespreekt formed from the infinitive bespreken?

The infinitive is bespreken (to discuss). It’s a regular verb with a stem bespreek-.

Present tense conjugation:

ik bespreek – I discuss
jij / je bespreekt – you discuss
hij / zij / het bespreekt – he / she / it discusses
wij / we bespreken – we discuss
jullie bespreken – you (plural) discuss
zij / ze bespreken – they discuss

In the sentence:

De stagiair = hij (he)
So we use hij bespreekt → De stagiair bespreekt …

Why is it met de docent? Could I say aan de docent or met docent?

Met is the usual preposition for “with (a person) in an activity”:

iets met iemand bespreken = to discuss something with someone

So:

De stagiair bespreekt zijn onderzoek met de docent.
= The intern discusses his research with the teacher.

Alternatives:

aan de docent
- This would more likely suggest telling or presenting something to the teacher, not discussing with:
  - De stagiair presenteert zijn onderzoek aan de docent. – The intern presents his research to the teacher.
- With bespreken, aan is not idiomatic here.
met docent (without de)
- In standard Dutch, you need an article:
  - met de docent (the teacher)
  - met een docent (a teacher)
- Dropping the article like met docent sounds incomplete or like telegraphic language (titles, headlines).

So met de docent is the normal and correct choice.

What is the difference between docent, leraar, and professor?

All can relate to teaching, but they’re used differently:

docent
- General word for teacher / instructor, often at secondary school, college, or university.
- Job title in many institutions: docent Nederlands, docent wiskunde.
leraar / lerares
- More commonly used for school teachers, especially primary and secondary education.
- leraar (male or generic), lerares (female).
- You don’t usually call a university teacher leraar.
professor / hoogleraar
- A full professor at a university.
- A specific academic rank, not just any teacher.

In your sentence, docent suggests an educational setting where the intern discusses his work with an instructor, likely at a college or university, but it could also be a teacher in other contexts.

Can I change the word order to De stagiair bespreekt met de docent zijn onderzoek?

Yes, that is grammatically correct, and you will hear it in spoken Dutch. Both are possible:

De stagiair bespreekt zijn onderzoek met de docent.
De stagiair bespreekt met de docent zijn onderzoek.

The difference is mostly one of rhythm and slight emphasis:

Version 1 (original) slightly keeps zijn onderzoek (his research) as a more tightly connected unit.
Version 2 puts a bit more focus on the fact that he is doing it with the teacher, with zijn onderzoek coming as an afterthought.

In neutral contexts, version 1 is more common and straightforward, but version 2 is not wrong.

How would this sentence look in the past tense and in the perfect tense?

Past simple (onvoltooid verleden tijd) of bespreken: besprak (singular), bespraken (plural).

De stagiair besprak zijn onderzoek met de docent.
= The intern discussed his research with the teacher.

Present perfect (voltooid tegenwoordige tijd):

Auxiliary: hebben
Past participle of bespreken: besproken
De stagiair heeft zijn onderzoek met de docent besproken.
= The intern has discussed his research with the teacher.

Both are common; Dutch often uses the perfect tense in speech for past events, but both forms are correct.

How could I replace the nouns with pronouns in this sentence?

Starting sentence:

De stagiair bespreekt zijn onderzoek met de docent.

Step by step:

Replace zijn onderzoek (his research) with a pronoun:
- onderzoek is a het-word, so the direct object pronoun is het in the unstressed form.
- De stagiair bespreekt het met de docent.
  = The intern discusses it with the teacher.
Replace de stagiair (subject) with a pronoun:
- hij (he), assuming male intern.
- Hij bespreekt het met de docent.
Replace de docent with a pronoun:
- met hem / met haar depending on the teacher’s gender.
- Hij bespreekt het met hem. – He discusses it with him.
- Hij bespreekt het met haar. – He discusses it with her.

So a fully pronominal version could be:

Hij bespreekt het met hem.
(He discusses it with him.)

Context would then need to make clear who hij and hem are.