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Wij willen samen onze kennis opbouwen door elke dag tien minuten te lezen.

Wij willen samen onze kennis opbouwen door elke dag tien minuten te lezen.
We want to build up our knowledge together by reading ten minutes every day.
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Questions & Answers about Wij willen samen onze kennis opbouwen door elke dag tien minuten te lezen.

Why is willen in the second position and opbouwen at the end of the main clause?

Dutch main clauses normally put the finite verb (the conjugated verb) in the second position, and any other verbs (infinitives, participles) go towards the end.

  • Wij (subject)
  • willen (finite verb, 2nd position)
  • samen onze kennis (other elements)
  • opbouwen (infinitive at/near the end)

Because willen is a modal verb (like want to), it’s conjugated and must sit in the second position. The main action opbouwen (to build up) then goes to the end. This is normal Dutch word order:

  • Wij willen onze kennis opbouwen.
  • Ik kan goed zwemmen. (I can swim well.)
    → kan second, zwemmen at the end.
What does door elke dag tien minuten te lezen mean grammatically? Why door … te + infinitive?

The structure door … te + infinitive in Dutch means “by …ing” (indicating the means or method).

  • door elke dag tien minuten te lezen
    = by reading ten minutes every day

Breakdown:

  • door = by (indicating the means/how something happens)
  • elke dag tien minuten = every day for ten minutes
  • te lezen = to read / reading

So the whole sentence literally is:

  • Wij willen samen onze kennis opbouwen door elke dag tien minuten te lezen.
    → We want to build up our knowledge together *by reading ten minutes every day.*
Why is it te lezen and not just lezen after door?

After door in this “by …ing” construction, Dutch normally uses te + infinitive:

  • door te lezen – by reading
  • door hard te werken – by working hard
  • door op tijd te komen – by arriving on time

You can’t say:

  • ✗ door lezen (wrong in this meaning)

You need door + te + infinitive to express “by doing X” as the way something happens.

What is the difference between door … te lezen and om … te lezen?

They express two different ideas:

  1. door … te + infinitive = by …ing (means / method)

    • Wij bouwen onze kennis op door elke dag te lezen.
      We build our knowledge *by reading every day.
      → Reading is *how       you build the knowledge.

  2. om … te + infinitive = in order to … (purpose / goal)

    • Wij lezen elke dag om onze kennis op te bouwen.
      We read every day *in order to build up our knowledge.
      → Building knowledge is the *goal       of reading.

In your sentence:

  • Wij willen samen onze kennis opbouwen door elke dag tien minuten te lezen.

The focus is on the means: the way they build up their knowledge is by reading ten minutes every day. If you changed it to:

  • Wij willen samen elke dag tien minuten lezen om onze kennis op te bouwen.

then the focus shifts slightly: reading is the main activity, and the purpose of that activity is to build knowledge. Both are correct, but they highlight different aspects.

Can wij and we both be used here? What’s the difference?

Yes, both are possible:

  • Wij willen samen onze kennis opbouwen …
  • We willen samen onze kennis opbouwen …

Difference:

  • wij is a bit more emphatic or slightly more formal.
  • we is more neutral/colloquial and is very common in spoken Dutch.

If you want to stress the subject (contrast, emphasis):

  • Wij willen samen onze kennis opbouwen (niet zij).
    We want to build our knowledge together (not they).

In ordinary, neutral speech, we is usually more natural:

  • We willen samen onze kennis opbouwen door elke dag tien minuten te lezen.
Where can samen go in the sentence? Is Wij willen samen onze kennis opbouwen… the only option?

Samen is an adverb meaning “together”, and Dutch allows some flexibility in placing adverbs. All of these are possible, with small differences in emphasis:

  1. Wij willen samen onze kennis opbouwen …
    → neutral, very natural.

  2. Wij willen onze kennis samen opbouwen …
    → emphasizes doing the building together.

  3. Wij willen onze kennis opbouwen samen, door elke dag …
    → possible, but sounds a bit unusual; samen feels tacked on.

  4. Samen willen wij onze kennis opbouwen …
    → emphasizes samen at the beginning: Together, we want…

In normal conversation, Wij/We willen samen onze kennis opbouwen … is the most typical word order.

Is opbouwen a separable verb? How would it behave in other tenses?

Yes, opbouwen is a separable verb (scheidbaar werkwoord):

  • Prefix: op
  • Verb: bouwen

In your sentence it appears as an infinitive, so it stays together: opbouwen.

In a simple present or past main clause, the prefix splits off and goes to the end:

  • Wij bouwen onze kennis op.
    We build up our knowledge.
  • Wij bouwden onze kennis langzaam op.
    We slowly built up our knowledge.

In the perfect tense, the prefix sticks to the participle:

  • Wij hebben onze kennis opgebouwd.
    We have built up our knowledge.

With a modal verb (like in your sentence), the infinitive form opbouwen stays together and typically goes near the end:

  • Wij willen onze kennis opbouwen.
Why is it onze kennis opbouwen and not something like opbouwen van onze kennis?

In Dutch, opbouwen usually takes a direct object:

  • iets opbouwen – to build something up

So:

  • onze kennis opbouwen
    = to build up our knowledge

You don’t normally use van here. The phrase opbouw van onze kennis is possible, but that changes opbouw into a noun:

  • de opbouw van onze kennis – the building up of our knowledge

In your sentence you need a verb phrase, not a noun phrase, so onze kennis opbouwen is the correct and natural form.

Can kennis be plural? What’s the difference between kennis and kennissen?

Kennis is a bit tricky because it has two uses:

  1. knowledge (uncountable)

    • kennis = knowledge
    • onze kennis = our knowledge
      Normally no plural when it means knowledge.

  2. an acquaintance / a contact (countable person)

    • een kennis = an acquaintance
    • twee kennissen = two acquaintances

In your sentence, kennis clearly means knowledge, so:

  • onze kennis (our knowledge) – correct
  • ✗ onze kennissen opbouwen would mean to build up our acquaintances, which is wrong in this context.
Why is there no preposition before elke dag or tien minuten? Why not voor tien minuten?

Dutch often uses bare time expressions (without a preposition) to express how often or how long:

  • elke dag – every day
  • tien minuten – ten minutes (as a duration)
  • elke week, drie uur, volgende maand, etc.

So:

  • door elke dag tien minuten te lezen
    = by reading ten minutes every day

You only need voor if you specifically want to emphasize “for a period of” in a way that might contrast with something else:

  • We lezen voor tien minuten en dan stoppen we.
    We read for ten minutes and then we stop.

But in your sentence, the neutral, idiomatic choice is simply elke dag tien minuten without a preposition.

Is the order elke dag tien minuten fixed, or could it be tien minuten elke dag?

Both are grammatically possible, but the natural default in Dutch is to go from more general to more specific:

  • elke dag tien minuten (every day, ten minutes)
    → sounds very natural.

You can say:

  • tien minuten elke dag

but it’s less common and may sound a bit heavier or more marked. In most contexts, stick with:

  • door elke dag tien minuten te lezen
Could the phrase door elke dag tien minuten te lezen go somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes, Dutch word order is fairly flexible with such prepositional/infinitive phrases. The most natural:

  • Wij willen samen onze kennis opbouwen door elke dag tien minuten te lezen.

Other grammatical possibilities (with different emphasis):

  1. Wij willen door elke dag tien minuten te lezen samen onze kennis opbouwen.
    → Emphasizes the method earlier.

  2. Door elke dag tien minuten te lezen willen wij samen onze kennis opbouwen.
    → Very natural if you want to highlight the method at the start:
    By reading ten minutes every day, we want to build up our knowledge together.

All are correct; the difference is mostly in what you emphasize first.

Is there a more typical or alternative way a Dutch speaker might phrase this idea?

A very natural alternative with slightly different focus is:

  • We willen samen elke dag tien minuten lezen om onze kennis op te bouwen.

Here:

  • The main activity is lezen (to read).
  • om onze kennis op te bouwen gives the purpose of reading.

Your original sentence:

  • Wij willen samen onze kennis opbouwen door elke dag tien minuten te lezen.

puts the emphasis on building knowledge, and reading is mentioned as the means.

Both are good Dutch; which one you choose depends on whether you want to focus more on:

  • the result (building knowledge), or
  • the activity (reading every day).