Learn Hardcore Dutch: Mijn tas staat naast de bureaustoel.

staan – to stand (things that are upright, vertical, or thought of as “standing”)
liggen – to lie (things that are flat, horizontal, or lying down)
zitten – to sit (things that are “in” something, stuck somewhere, or sitting)
hangen – to hang (things that hang)

A bag that is standing upright on the floor is usually described with staan:

Mijn tas staat naast de bureaustoel.
Literally: My bag stands next to the desk chair.

So staat is used instead of is because Dutch normally encodes position with a specific verb, not with zijn.

Is Mijn tas is naast de bureaustoel completely wrong?

Yes, that sounds wrong or at least very unnatural in standard Dutch.

For locations of objects, native speakers expect one of the position verbs:

✅ Mijn tas staat naast de bureaustoel.
✅ Mijn tas ligt naast de bureaustoel. (if the bag is lying on its side)
✅ Mijn tas zit naast de bureaustoel. (rare here, but could work in some specific context)

Using is for simple physical location of objects is generally unidiomatic:

❌ Mijn tas is naast de bureaustoel.

You can use is with place phrases in some idiomatic or abstract expressions, but not in this basic spatial sense.

What exactly does staat mean here?

Literally, staat is the third‑person singular of staan – “to stand”:

ik sta – I stand
jij / u staat – you stand
hij / zij / het staat – he / she / it stands

When used with objects, staan can mean to be (in an upright position) somewhere. So here:

Mijn tas staat naast de bureaustoel.
= My bag is standing / is positioned (upright) next to the desk chair.

Dutch often uses these verbs almost like “built‑in adjectives” for shape + location together.

Could I also use ligt instead of staat with tas?

Yes, depending on how you imagine the bag.

Mijn tas staat naast de bureaustoel.
→ The bag is standing upright (e.g. on its base).
Mijn tas ligt naast de bureaustoel.
→ The bag is lying on its side or flat.

Native speakers switch between staan and liggen quite freely with certain objects (like bags, bottles, books) depending on their actual orientation or just their mental image of it.

Why is it mijn tas and not de tas van mij?

Both are grammatically possible, but they are not equally natural.

mijn tas – my bag (normal, neutral, most common)
de tas van mij – the bag of mine / that bag of mine

de tas van mij is usually more emphatic or contrastive, for example:

Niet die tas, maar de tas van mij staat naast de bureaustoel.
→ Not that bag, but my bag is next to the office chair.

For a simple, neutral statement like the one you have, mijn tas is the default.

Does mijn change depending on gender or number, like “my” vs “mine”?

No. mijn is very simple:

It does not change with gender (de/het).
It does not change between singular and plural.
It does not change with grammatical role (subject/object).

Examples:

mijn tas – my bag
mijn boek – my book
mijn tassen – my bags
Ik zie mijn tas. – I see my bag.
Dat is mijn tas. – That is my bag.

So you always use mijn in front of the noun, regardless of gender, number, or case.

What is the gender of tas, and why is there no article in mijn tas?

tas is a de‑word (common gender):

de tas – the bag

But when you use a possessive pronoun like mijn, you normally do not add de:

✅ de tas – the bag
✅ mijn tas – my bag
❌ de mijn tas – (wrong)

So you simply say mijn tas, not de mijn tas.

Why is it de bureaustoel and not het bureaustoel?

Both parts of the compound noun bureaustoel are de‑words:

het bureau – the desk (note: het here)
de stoel – the chair

However, in Dutch compounds, only the last part determines the gender and the article:

bureaustoel = bureau
- stoel → gender from stoel → de bureaustoel

More examples:

de keukentafel – kitchen table (tafel is a de‑word)
het huisnummer – house number (nummer is a het‑word)

So: de bureaustoel is correct because stoel is a de‑word.

Why is bureaustoel written as one word?

Dutch almost always writes compound nouns as one single word:

bureau
- stoel → bureaustoel (desk chair)
huis
- deur → huisdeur (front door)
keuken
- kast → keukenkast (kitchen cupboard)

In English, you often write these as separate words or with a hyphen, but Dutch joins them. If it’s one concept, it’s usually one word in Dutch.

What is the difference between naast and bij?

Both can be translated as “near” or “by”, but they have different nuances:

naast = next to, right beside, often side‑by‑side.
- Mijn tas staat naast de bureaustoel.
  → The bag is directly next to the chair.
bij = near, at, with, more general proximity or association.
- Mijn tas staat bij de bureaustoel.
  → The bag is somewhere near the chair; not necessarily directly beside it.

So naast is usually more specific and closer than bij.

Why do we say naast de bureaustoel but naast mij (without de)?

After a preposition like naast, you either use:

A noun with an article:
- naast de bureaustoel – next to the desk chair
- naast de tafel – next to the table
- naast het raam – next to the window
Or a pronoun (which doesn’t take an article):
- naast mij – next to me
- naast jou – next to you
- naast hem – next to him

You only use de/het before nouns, not before pronouns. That’s why it’s naast de bureaustoel, but naast mij.

How would the sentence change if I talk about several bags?

You need to make both the noun and the verb plural:

tas → tassen (bags)
staat (singular) → staan (plural, for “they stand”)

So:

Mijn tassen staan naast de bureaustoel.
→ My bags are (standing) next to the desk chair.

Subject–verb agreement in Dutch:

Mijn tas staat… (singular: tas)
Mijn tassen staan… (plural: tassen)

How would I negate this sentence?

You use niet and place it after the verb phrase and before the prepositional phrase:

Mijn tas staat niet naast de bureaustoel.
→ My bag is not next to the desk chair.

General pattern (main clause):

Subject – Verb – (object) – niet – rest
- Mijn tas staat niet naast de bureaustoel.
- Mijn tas staat niet in de kamer.
- Mijn tas staat niet op de tafel.