Tijdens het onweer raakt de hond snel bang.

During the thunderstorm, the dog quickly becomes afraid.

Breakdown of Tijdens het onweer raakt de hond snel bang.

• de hond: the dog
• tijdens: during
• snel: quickly
• bang: afraid
• het onweer: the thunderstorm
• raken: to get, to become

Questions & Answers about Tijdens het onweer raakt de hond snel bang.

What exactly does tijdens mean, and how is it used in Dutch?

Tijdens is a preposition meaning “during”. It’s followed by a noun (or noun phrase), just like English during:

• tijdens het onweer – during the thunderstorm
• tijdens de vakantie – during the holiday
• tijdens het eten – during the meal

You can put a tijdens-phrase at the beginning or later in the sentence:

• Tijdens het onweer raakt de hond snel bang.
• De hond raakt tijdens het onweer snel bang.

Both are grammatically correct; starting with tijdens het onweer gives extra emphasis to the time frame.

Why is it het onweer and not de onweer?

In Dutch, every noun is either a de-word (common gender) or a het-word (neuter).
Onweer happens to be a het-word, so you must say:

• het onweer (the thunderstorm)

You can’t say de onweer; that’s simply incorrect.
You just have to learn the gender of nouns; there’s no reliable rule that would predict it from the form of onweer.

Does onweer mean “thunder”, “lightning”, or “thunderstorm”?

Onweer usually means the whole weather situation: a thunderstorm (thunder + lightning + dark clouds etc.).

More specific words are:

• donder – thunder (the sound)
• bliksem – lightning (the flash)

So:

• Tijdens het onweer = during the thunderstorm
• Ik hoorde de donder. = I heard the thunder.
• Ik zag de bliksem. = I saw the lightning.

Why is the verb raakt used here? Could I also say wordt?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different nuances.

• raken (in this use) ≈ to get / to end up / to become (suddenly or as a result of something)

  • Hij raakt boos. – He gets angry / ends up angry.

• worden ≈ to become (more neutral, very common)

  • Hij wordt boos. – He becomes angry.

In the sentence:

• Tijdens het onweer raakt de hond snel bang.

raakt suggests the dog ends up in that state, often as a reaction to the thunderstorm.
You could also say:

• Tijdens het onweer wordt de hond snel bang.

That’s correct and very natural too. Many speakers would hear only a small or no difference in everyday use.

Can I say De hond is snel bang instead of raakt snel bang?

Yes, but the meaning changes.

• De hond is snel bang.
  = The dog is easily scared (it’s a general characteristic / personality).

• De hond raakt snel bang (tijdens het onweer).
  = The dog becomes scared quickly (focus on the process of getting scared in that situation).

So is snel bang describes a general tendency, while raakt snel bang describes what happens (especially in a certain context, like during thunderstorms).

What exactly does snel modify here, and where can it go in the sentence?

In:

• Tijdens het onweer raakt de hond snel bang.

snel is an adverb; it modifies how quickly the dog becomes afraid.

Common positions:

• Tijdens het onweer raakt de hond snel bang.
• Tijdens het onweer raakt de hond bang. (without snel)
• De hond raakt tijdens het onweer snel bang.

You would not normally say:

• ✗ De hond raakt bang snel.

That sounds wrong or at least very unnatural. In Dutch, adverbs like snel usually go before the adjective or state they qualify, not after it.

Is bang an adjective or an adverb here? How is bang normally used?

Bang is an adjective meaning afraid / scared.

Typical patterns:

• bang zijn – to be afraid
  
  • De hond is bang. – The dog is afraid.
• bang worden / raken – to become afraid
  
  • De hond wordt bang. / De hond raakt bang.
• bang voor iets zijn – to be afraid of something
  
  • De hond is bang voor onweer. – The dog is afraid of thunderstorms.

In raakt de hond snel bang, bang describes the resulting state of the dog (how the dog is after the change).

Can I move tijdens het onweer to another place in the sentence?

Yes. All of these are grammatically fine:

1. Tijdens het onweer raakt de hond snel bang.
2. De hond raakt tijdens het onweer snel bang.
3. De hond raakt snel bang tijdens het onweer. (possible, but less common / more “afterthought”-like)

Differences are mainly about emphasis and style:

• At the start: you highlight the time: As for during the thunderstorm…
• In the middle (after the verb or subject): more neutral.
• At the end: can sound like you’re adding the time information a bit later.

Could I say Tijdens onweer raakt de hond snel bang without het?

You can, but the nuance changes slightly.

• Tijdens het onweer
  = during the (particular) thunderstorm or “during the thunderstorm (situation)”, a bit more specific.

• Tijdens onweer
  = during thunderstorms / when there is thunderstorm weather in general, more like a general condition.

So:

• Tijdens onweer raakt de hond snel bang.
  = Whenever there is thunderstorm weather, the dog quickly becomes afraid.

Both are correct; choice depends on whether you’re thinking more about a concrete event (het onweer) or thunderstorms in general (onweer).

How would this sentence look in past tense or future tense?

Present (original):

• Tijdens het onweer raakt de hond snel bang.
  – During the thunderstorm, the dog quickly becomes afraid.

Past:

• Tijdens het onweer raakte de hond snel bang.
  – During the thunderstorm, the dog quickly became afraid.

Future (with zal):

• Tijdens het onweer zal de hond snel bang raken.
  – During the thunderstorm, the dog will quickly become afraid.

Note the conjugation of raken:

• ik raak – ik raakte – ik ben geraakt
• hij/zij raakt – hij/zij raakte – hij/zij is geraakt