Ik wil dit mooie moment vasthouden.

I want to hold on to this beautiful moment.

Breakdown of Ik wil dit mooie moment vasthouden.

• ik: I
• mooi: beautiful
• willen: to want
• dit: this
• het moment: the moment
• vasthouden: to keep up

Questions & Answers about Ik wil dit mooie moment vasthouden.

Why is it ik wil and not ik will like in English I will?

Dutch wil comes from the verb willen (to want), not from the future tense like English will.

• ik wil = I want
• ik zal = roughly I will (future)

So Ik wil dit mooie moment vasthouden literally means I want to hold on to this beautiful moment, not I will hold on….

Conjugation of willen (present):

• ik wil – I want
• jij / je wil(t) – you want
• hij / zij / het wil – he / she / it wants
• wij / jullie / zij willen – we / you (pl.) / they want

For ik (I), the form is always wil, never wilt.

Why is vasthouden at the end of the sentence?

Dutch main clauses generally put the conjugated verb in second position and any infinitive at the end.

Structure here:

• Ik (subject)
• wil (conjugated verb in 2nd position)
• dit mooie moment (object)
• vasthouden (infinitive at the end)

So: Ik wil dit mooie moment vasthouden.

Compare:

• English: I want to hold on to this beautiful moment.
• Dutch (order-by-function): I – want – this beautiful moment – hold on (to).

Any time you have verbs like kunnen, moeten, willen, mogen, gaan + another verb, that other verb (infinitive) usually goes to the end.

Why is there no te before vasthouden, like Ik wil dit mooie moment te vasthouden?

After modal verbs such as:

• kunnen (can)
• moeten (must / have to)
• willen (want)
• mogen (may / be allowed to)
• zullen (will / shall, in some uses)

you do not use te before the infinitive.

So you say:

• Ik wil dit moment vasthouden.
  not ✗ Ik wil dit moment te vasthouden.

But without a modal you often do need te:

• Ik probeer dit moment vast te houden. – I try to hold on to this moment.
• Ik hoop dit moment vast te houden. – I hope to hold on to this moment.

Is vasthouden one word or two words? I’ve seen vast at the end sometimes.

Vasthouden is a separable verb. In dictionaries and infinitive form it is written as one word: vasthouden.

In many main-clause sentences, it splits:

• Ik houd dit moment vast. – I hold on to this moment.
  
  • houd (conjugated part)
  • vast (separable part at the end)

But with another verb (like wil) or in the infinitive, it stays together:

• Ik wil dit moment vasthouden.
• Ik ga dit moment vasthouden.
• Dit moment vasthouden is belangrijk voor mij.

In the perfect tense, it also “rejoins” with ge inside:

• Ik heb dit moment vastgehouden. – I have held on to this moment.

What exactly does vasthouden mean here? Is it physical or emotional?

Vasthouden literally means to hold on (to something), usually physically:

• Ik houd de leuning vast. – I hold on to the railing.

In a sentence like Ik wil dit mooie moment vasthouden, it’s used metaphorically:

• to keep the memory
• to not let the feeling go
• to preserve the experience

So it has the sense of I want to hold on to / preserve this beautiful moment (emotionally).

What’s the difference between vasthouden and houden van?

They are completely different:

• vasthouden = to hold on (to), to grip, to keep

  • Ik houd je hand vast. – I’m holding your hand.

• houden van = to love / to be fond of

  • Ik houd van jou. – I love you.
  • Ik houd van koffie. – I love coffee / I’m fond of coffee.

So you cannot replace vasthouden with houden van here:

• ✗ Ik wil dit mooie moment houden van. (incorrect)
• ✔ Ik wil dit mooie moment vasthouden. (correct)

Why is it dit and not deze in dit mooie moment?

Dit and deze both mean this, but they depend on the grammatical gender/number of the noun:

• dit = this (for het-words and for singular words without article)
• deze = this (for de-words and for plural nouns)

Moment is a het-word: het moment.

Therefore:

• dit moment – this moment
• dit mooie moment – this beautiful moment

Compare:

• de dag → deze dag / deze mooie dag – this day
• het huis → dit huis / dit mooie huis – this house

Why is it mooie moment and not mooi moment?

Adjectives in Dutch often get an -e ending when used before a noun with a determiner.

Rules (simplified for this case):

1. If there is a determiner (like de, het, een, dit, dat, deze, die, mijn, jouw, etc.)
   → the adjective usually gets -e.

2. If there is no determiner and it’s a het-word singular
   → the adjective often stays without -e.

So:

• dit mooie moment – this beautiful moment (dit is a determiner → mooie)
• het mooie moment – the beautiful moment
• een mooi moment – a beautiful moment (het-word
  • een → often no -e)
• mooie momenten – beautiful moments (plural → -e)

That’s why dit mooie moment needs mooie, not mooi.

Could I also say Ik wil graag dit mooie moment vasthouden? Where does graag go?

Yes, you can. Graag softens the wish and makes it sound more polite or warm, a bit like would like to in English.

Both are correct:

• Ik wil dit mooie moment vasthouden. – I want to hold on to this beautiful moment.
• Ik wil graag dit mooie moment vasthouden. – I would like to hold on to this beautiful moment.

Typical positions for graag here:

• Ik wil graag dit mooie moment vasthouden.
• Ik wil dit mooie moment graag vasthouden.

Both are natural; putting graag right after wil is very common.

How would this sentence change in the past tense?

You have two common options:

1. Simple past of willen:

   • Ik wilde dit mooie moment vasthouden.
   • I wanted to hold on to this beautiful moment.

2. Perfect tense of willen (less frequent, more specific context):

   • Ik heb dit mooie moment willen vasthouden.
   • Literally: I have wanted to hold on to this beautiful moment.

If you want to make vasthouden itself past (you actually held on):

• Ik heb dit mooie moment vastgehouden. – I held on to this beautiful moment / I have held on to this beautiful moment.

If I want to talk about more than one moment, how do I change the sentence?

Plural of moment is momenten, and plural always takes de and deze (not het/dit).

So:

• Ik wil deze mooie momenten vasthouden.
  
  • deze (plural)
  • mooie (plural → -e)
  • momenten (plural)

Singular vs plural:

• dit mooie moment – this beautiful moment
• deze mooie momenten – these beautiful moments

How is vasthouden pronounced, especially vas and hou?

Approximate pronunciation in English-friendly terms:

• vas → /vɑs/

  • v like English v
  • a like o in pot (British) or a in father but shorter
  • s like English s

• hou → /ɦʌu/ or /ɦɑu/ (varies by region)

  • h is a soft h
  • ou sounds like ow in now

Full word: vasthouden ≈ VAST-how-den (with den like duhn, not like deen).

Syllables: vast-hou-den. The main stress is on vast.