Learn Hardcore Dutch: Tom drukt de knop in en het licht gaat aan. - Tom presses the button and the light turns on.

The infinitive is indrukken (to press in / to push in).
In a main clause with normal word order, separable verbs split:
- Tom drukt de knop in.
  - drukt = conjugated verb
  - in = separable particle, sent to the end

In English this is similar to phrasal verbs like “turn on”:

“He turns the light on” → hij zet het licht aan (also separable in Dutch).

What is the infinitive of drukt … in, and how do you use it in other tenses?

The infinitive is indrukken.

Basic forms with de knop:

Infinitive:
- Ik wil de knop indrukken. (I want to press the button.)
Present:
- Ik druk de knop in.
- Tom drukt de knop in.
Past (simple):
- Ik drukte de knop in. (I pressed the button.)
Perfect (present perfect):
- Ik heb de knop ingedrukt.
  - In the perfect tense the particle in joins the verb: ingedrukt.

So:

main clause, simple present/past: split → druk(t/e(n)) … in
infinitive / perfect participle: join → indrukken, ingedrukt

What is the difference between de knop indrukken and op de knop drukken?

Both are common and often interchangeable, but there is a nuance:

De knop indrukken
- Literally: “press the button in” / “push the button in”.
- Focuses on moving the button inward until it’s operated.
- Very natural when you think of a button that really goes in.
Op de knop drukken
- Literally: “press on the button”.
- More general “press the button” without emphasising the movement in.
- Very common in everyday speech.

Both work in your context:

Tom drukt de knop in en het licht gaat aan.
Tom drukt op de knop en het licht gaat aan.

You’ll hear op de knop drukken very often in spoken Dutch; de knop indrukken can feel a bit more “action-focused” or slightly more formal/written, but it’s perfectly normal.

Why is it de knop and not het knop?

Because knop is a de-word (common gender) in Dutch.

de knop = the button
een knop = a button
de knoppen = the buttons

There is no simple rule that tells you in advance whether a noun is de or het; you usually need to learn it together with the noun. So you memorize:

de knop (button)
het licht (light)

In Tom drukt de knop in, what is the grammatical role of de knop?

De knop is the direct object (in Dutch: lijdend voorwerp).

Tom = subject (the one who acts)
drukt … in = verb (indrukken, to press in)
de knop = direct object (what is being pressed)

You can test this by asking in Dutch:

Wat drukt Tom in? → De knop.

In het licht gaat aan, why is there no direct object?

Because het licht is the subject, and aangaan (“to go on”) is used intransitively here (no direct object).

het licht = the thing that changes state
gaat aan (from aangaan) = “goes on”

So grammatically:

het licht → subject
gaat aan → verb phrase (no object)

Compare:

Het licht gaat aan. (The light goes on.) → intransitive
Tom zet het licht aan. (Tom turns the light on.)
- Tom = subject
- zet … aan = separable verb (aanzetten)
- het licht = direct object

What is the infinitive of gaat aan, and how do you use it in other tenses?

The infinitive is aangaan.

Some forms with het licht:

Infinitive:
- Het licht kan aangaan. (The light can go on.)
Present:
- Het licht gaat aan. (The light goes on.)
Past (simple):
- Het licht ging aan. (The light went on.)
Perfect (present perfect):
- Het licht is aangegaan. (The light has gone on.)
  - Use zijn as the auxiliary because this is a change of state.

Notice again: in the perfect tense, the parts join: aangegaan.

Can you say het licht is aan instead of het licht gaat aan? What is the difference?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:

Het licht gaat aan.
- Describes the moment of change: the light switches from off to on.
- “The light goes on” / “The light is coming on.”
Het licht is aan.
- Describes the state: the light is already on.
- “The light is on.”

So in your sentence:

Tom drukt de knop in en het licht gaat aan.
- First he presses the button, then the light turns on.

If you said:

Tom drukt de knop in en het licht is aan.
- Grammatically correct, but it sounds more like “he presses the button and (as a result / afterwards) the light is on.”
- It focuses less on the switching moment and more on the final state.

Could you say Tom drukt in de knop? Why or why not?

No, Tom drukt in de knop is incorrect.

With separable verbs like indrukken:

In a main clause with normal word order, you put:
- Conjugated verb early: drukt
- Separable particle at the end: in

Correct:

Tom drukt de knop in.

If you say Tom drukt in de knop, Dutch speakers will understand something like “Tom presses inside the button,” but it sounds wrong/unnatural because in is being treated like a preposition instead of the separable particle of indrukken.

What happens to in in a subordinate clause, like with als or wanneer?

In a subordinate clause, the separable verb parts come back together at the end.

Example with als (if/when):

Als Tom de knop indrukt, gaat het licht aan.
- indrukt = in + drukt recombined at the end of the clause

Structure:

Als (subordinating conjunction)
Tom (subject)
de knop (object)
indrukt (verb, now joined, at the end)

Main clause again:

Tom drukt de knop in. (split)

So:

Main clause: drukt … in
Subordinate clause: indrukt

Why is there no comma before en in Tom drukt de knop in en het licht gaat aan? Can you add one?

In Dutch, en is a coordinating conjunction (like and). A comma is not required before en when it joins two short, closely related main clauses.

Tom drukt de knop in en het licht gaat aan. → fully correct without a comma.

You may see a comma added for style, emphasis, or clarity, especially with longer clauses:

Tom drukt de knop in, en het licht gaat meteen aan.

But in standard usage for short sentences like yours, no comma is normal.

How do you pronounce drukt and licht?

Approximate pronunciation (IPA):

drukt → /drʏkt/
- dr like dr in “dream”
- u = /ʏ/, similar to the u in British “put” but slightly tenser
- kt both consonants are pronounced; it ends quite abruptly
licht → /lɪxt/
- li like li in “lip” (short i)
- ch = /x/, a voiceless sound from the back of the throat, like German “Bach” or Scottish “loch”
- t is clearly pronounced at the end

So licht does not sound like English “light”; the vowel and the ch are different.

How would the sentence change if there were several buttons and lights?

You mainly change the nouns to their plurals:

Tom drukt de knoppen in en de lichten gaan aan.
- de knoppen = the buttons (plural of de knop)
- de lichten = the lights (plural of het licht)

More natural in many contexts is to say lampen (lamps) instead of lichten:

Tom drukt de knoppen in en de lampen gaan aan.

Verbs also change to plural:

de knoppen gaan aan
de lampen gaan aan

How do you say that the light goes off instead of on?

Use uitgaan (“to go out”) for the light turning off.

Het licht gaat uit.
- The light goes out / The light turns off.

Parallel to your sentence:

Tom drukt de knop in en het licht gaat uit.
- Tom presses the button and the light goes off.

State vs change:

Het licht is uit. = The light is off (state).
Het licht gaat uit. = The light is (now) going off (change of state).