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Mijn studiegenoot en ik vergelijken onze aantekeningen na het college.

Mijn studiegenoot en ik vergelijken onze aantekeningen na het college.
My fellow student and I compare our notes after the lecture.
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Questions & Answers about Mijn studiegenoot en ik vergelijken onze aantekeningen na het college.

Why is it vergelijken and not vergelijkt in this sentence?

The verb has to agree with the subject.

  • Subject: mijn studiegenoot en ik → that is two people → we.
  • For wij/we in the present tense, regular verbs end in -en:
    • ik vergelijk
    • jij/hij/zij vergelijkt
    • wij/jullie/zij vergelijken

So with mijn studiegenoot en ik (we), you must use vergelijken, not vergelijkt.

Is the word order mijn studiegenoot en ik vergelijken correct with the verb in the “third” position? Isn’t Dutch verb-second?

Dutch is verb-second (V2), but you count whole sentence parts, not individual words.

Sentence parts here:

  1. Mijn studiegenoot en ik → complete subject (1st position)
  2. vergelijken → the finite verb (2nd position)
  3. onze aantekeningen na het college → everything else (3rd position onward)

So the verb is in second position. The fact that the subject itself contains three words (mijn + studiegenoot + en ik) does not change that.

Can I also say Ik en mijn studiegenoot vergelijken onze aantekeningen?

Grammatically, yes, but it is stylistically less natural.

  • Dutch (like English) usually prefers to mention the other person first, then ik:
    • More natural: Mijn studiegenoot en ik vergelijken…
    • Less natural: Ik en mijn studiegenoot vergelijken…

Also, do not say mij en mijn studiegenoot here. After a subject, you must use ik, not mij.

Why is it onze aantekeningen and not mijn aantekeningen or mijne aantekeningen?

Onze is the possessive pronoun for wij/we before plural nouns (and before most de-words).

  • ik → mijn (my)
  • jij → jouw (your)
  • hij/zij → zijn/haar (his/her)
  • wij/we → ons / onze (our)
    • ons: before het-words in singular (e.g. ons huis)
    • onze: before de-words and all plural nouns (e.g. onze auto, onze aantekeningen)

Here, aantekeningen is plural, so you must use onze.
They are sharing the notes, so our notes = onze aantekeningen, not mijn aantekeningen.

What exactly does studiegenoot mean? Is it gendered, and how do I make the plural?

Studiegenoot is a compound:

  • studie = study
  • genoot = companion / mate

So studiegenoot ≈ fellow student / classmate on the same course (usually at university or college level).

About gender and forms:

  • Singular indefinite: een studiegenoot
  • Singular definite: de studiegenoot
  • Plural: de studiegenoten

In modern Dutch, studiegenoot is effectively gender-neutral in many contexts. If you really want to specify gender, you might say:

  • een mannelijke / vrouwelijke studiegenoot
  • or use studiegenote for a female fellow student in some (rather formal or old-fashioned) contexts, but this is becoming less common.
What is the difference between studiegenoot, klasgenoot, and medestudent?

They are similar but not identical:

  • studiegenoot
    Someone who studies the same subject/program as you, often at university or college. They might not be in the exact same class every time, but you share the same study.

  • klasgenoot
    Literally class-mate. Someone who is in the same class/group as you (could be primary school, high school, etc.).

  • medestudent
    Literally co-student / fellow student. More general: another student at the same institution, not necessarily in the same program.

In your sentence, studiegenoot fits very well for someone in the same study program with whom you might compare notes after lectures.

Why is it aantekeningen and not notities? Are those synonyms?

Both aantekeningen and notities can translate as notes, but there are nuances:

  • aantekeningen
    Most common for lecture notes / notes you take while listening or reading.

    • aantekeningen maken = to take notes
    • Sounds very natural in an academic context.

  • notities
    Also means notes, but is somewhat more neutral or formal and often used for short written remarks:

    • korte notities = brief notes
    • Also used in e.g. vergadernotities (meeting notes), etc.

In this sentence (after a lecture), aantekeningen is the most idiomatic choice.

Why is there no met after vergelijken? In English we say “compare our notes (with each other)”.

In Dutch, vergelijken can be used:

  1. With a direct object only (general comparison activity):

    • Wij vergelijken onze aantekeningen.
      = We are comparing our notes (the activity is clear; context implies with each other).

  2. With a preposition + object, when you specify what you compare with what:

    • Wij vergelijken onze aantekeningen met het boek.
    • Wij vergelijken onze aantekeningen met elkaar. (= with each other)

In your sentence, met elkaar is simply left out because it’s obvious from context. You could say:

  • Mijn studiegenoot en ik vergelijken onze aantekeningen met elkaar na het college.

This is longer but also perfectly correct.

What does college mean here? Is it like English college (institution)?

No. In Dutch, college usually means:

  • a lecture or university class, i.e. a teaching session in higher education.

So:

  • na het college = after the lecture / after class (at university, HBO, etc.)

It does not normally mean the institution (like college in American English). For the institution, Dutch uses words like universiteit, hogeschool, opleiding, etc.

For school-level lessons (primary/secondary), you would more likely say:

  • na de les = after the lesson.
Why is it na het college and not na de college?

In Dutch, every noun is either a de-word or a het-word (common gender vs. neuter).

College is a het-word, so:

  • het college (the lecture)
  • een college (a lecture)

With the preposition na (after), if you mean after the lecture, you must keep the article:

  • na het college = after the lecture

You could also say more generally:

  • na college (more informal, like “after class”), omitting the article, but na het college is the fully standard version.
Can na het college go at the beginning of the sentence? How does that change the word order?

Yes, you can start with the time phrase. Then V2 (verb-second) rules apply:

  • Na het college vergelijken mijn studiegenoot en ik onze aantekeningen.

Here, the parts are:

  1. Na het college → first position (time adverbial)
  2. vergelijken → second position (finite verb)
  3. mijn studiegenoot en ik → subject, now after the verb
  4. onze aantekeningen → the rest

Both versions are correct:

  • Mijn studiegenoot en ik vergelijken onze aantekeningen na het college.
  • Na het college vergelijken mijn studiegenoot en ik onze aantekeningen.

The second version puts more emphasis on when it happens.

Is vergelijken a separable verb? Should I ever split it like vergelijk … en?

No. Vergelijken is not a separable verb.

  • Infinitive: vergelijken
  • Present: ik vergelijk, wij vergelijken
  • Past: ik vergeleek, wij vergeleken
  • Past participle: vergeleken

You never split it like many separable verbs (e.g. opstaan → ik sta op). So you would not say something like ik vergelijk de aantekeningen op. It stays together as one unit (except for normal tense inflection).

How would I say this in a slightly more informal or simpler way?

A couple of natural, slightly more informal alternatives:

  • Mijn studiegenoot en ik kijken onze aantekeningen na na het college.
    (literally: my fellow student and I check our notes after the lecture.)

  • Na het college kijken we samen naar onze aantekeningen.
    (after the lecture, we look at our notes together.)

Your original sentence is already very good and natural; these are just style variations.