Volgens haar hoort elke mislukking bij de ontwikkeling van onze vaardigheden.

According to her, every failure is part of the development of our skills.

Breakdown of Volgens haar hoort elke mislukking bij de ontwikkeling van onze vaardigheden.

• onze: our
• elke: every
• haar: her
• van: of
• volgens: according to
• de ontwikkeling: the development
• de vaardigheid: the skill
• de mislukking: the failure
• horen bij: to be part of

Questions & Answers about Volgens haar hoort elke mislukking bij de ontwikkeling van onze vaardigheden.

What exactly does volgens haar mean, and where can it go in the sentence?

Volgens haar literally means “according to her”.
It’s a prepositional phrase (volgens = according to, haar = her).
It often appears at the beginning for emphasis: Volgens haar hoort…
You can also put it later: Elke mislukking hoort volgens haar bij de ontwikkeling…
The meaning stays the same; only the focus changes slightly (more emphasis on whose opinion it is when it’s at the start).

Why is it haar and not zij after volgens?

After a preposition like volgens, Dutch uses the object (stressed) pronoun, not the subject form.
So you say:

• volgens mij (according to me)
• volgens jou (according to you)
• volgens hem (according to him)
• volgens haar (according to her) – not volgens zij.
  Zij is only used as a subject (she), e.g. Zij denkt dat…

Why is the verb hoort in second position after volgens haar?

Dutch main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb is always in second position.
Whatever you put in first position (subject, time, opinion phrase, etc.), the conjugated verb must come next.
So with volgens haar at the start, you must say:

• Volgens haar hoort elke mislukking…
  If you started with the subject, you’d get:
• Elke mislukking hoort volgens haar…
  In both cases, hoort is still the second element.

What does the combination hoort bij mean here?

Horen bij is a fixed expression meaning “to belong to / to be part of / to go with”.
So Elke mislukking hoort bij de ontwikkeling… means:
“Every failure belongs to / is part of the development…”.
You normally keep horen and bij together in simple sentences like this.

Why is it hoort and not horen in this sentence?

The verb agrees with the subject elke mislukking.
Elke (every) makes the noun singular, so the subject is third person singular: (zij / het) hoort.
Forms:

• ik hoor
• jij / hij / zij / het hoort
• wij / jullie / zij horen
  Because elke mislukking is “every failure” (singular), you need hoort.

What is the difference between elke mislukking and iedere mislukking?

In modern Dutch, elke and iedere are almost interchangeable and both translate as “every”.

• elke mislukking
• iedere mislukking
  Both sound natural here. Iedere can feel a bit more formal or emphatic in some contexts, but in this sentence there is no real difference.

Why is it mislukking and not something like falen?

Mislukking is a noun: “a failure” (a failed attempt, an unsuccessful result).
Falen is usually a verb: “to fail”.
In this sentence, we need a noun phrase as the subject (elke mislukking = every failure), so mislukking is the natural choice.
Plural: mislukkingen; article: de mislukking (it’s a de-word).

Why is the preposition bij used with de ontwikkeling, and not in or tot?

Here bij is required by the expression horen bij, which means “to belong to / to be part of”.
So hoort … bij de ontwikkeling literally = belongs to the development.
If you used in or tot, it would sound wrong or change the meaning; the preposition is fixed by the verb expression, not by ontwikkeling itself.

Why do we say de ontwikkeling and not een ontwikkeling?

In Dutch, when you talk about a general, ongoing process that is seen as a whole, you often use the definite article: de ontwikkeling.
It’s like English “the development of our skills” when you mean the overall process, not just some unspecified development.
So de ontwikkeling van onze vaardigheden refers to “the” (whole) development process of our skills in general.

Why is it ontwikkeling van onze vaardigheden and not something like onze vaardigheden ontwikkeling?

Dutch normally expresses this kind of relationship with van:
ontwikkeling van X = development of X.
So:

• de ontwikkeling van onze vaardigheden = the development of our skills
  Putting the noun in front (onze vaardigheden ontwikkeling) is not normal Dutch noun–noun compounding in this case and sounds incorrect. You need van here.

Why is vaardigheden plural? Could you say onze vaardigheid instead?

Vaardigheden (plural) means “skills / abilities” and refers to multiple capacities.
Onze vaardigheid (singular) would be “our skill” in a more general or collective sense, and is much less common in this type of sentence.
Talking about personal growth and learning, Dutch almost always uses the plural onze vaardigheden, just like English prefers “our skills” here.

What’s the difference between vaardigheid and other words like bekwaamheid or capaciteit?

• vaardigheid = skill, something you can do well (often practical or learned; e.g. taalvaardigheid, language skill).
• bekwaamheid = proficiency / competence, often sounds more formal, focusing on how qualified or capable you are.
• capaciteit = capacity / ability / potential, more about potential or (often) amount of what you can handle.
  In this sentence, vaardigheden is the most natural choice, because it’s about skills we develop over time.

Can the word order be changed, for example: Elke mislukking hoort bij de ontwikkeling van onze vaardigheden, volgens haar?

Yes. That sentence is grammatically correct and means the same thing.
Possible variants include:

• Volgens haar hoort elke mislukking bij de ontwikkeling van onze vaardigheden.
• Elke mislukking hoort volgens haar bij de ontwikkeling van onze vaardigheden.
• Elke mislukking hoort bij de ontwikkeling van onze vaardigheden, volgens haar.
  Moving volgens haar mainly changes the emphasis (how strongly you highlight that it’s her opinion), not the basic meaning.