Breakdown of Ik spreek steeds zelfverzekerder wanneer ik elke dag oefen.
Questions & Answers about Ik spreek steeds zelfverzekerder wanneer ik elke dag oefen.
Steeds literally means “continually / increasingly / more and more.”
In this sentence, Ik spreek steeds zelfverzekerder means “I speak more and more confidently.”
If you remove steeds, Ik spreek zelfverzekerder just means “I speak more confidently” (a one-step comparison, not a gradual development).
So:
- Met steeds: emphasizes a gradual change over time — more and more confident.
- Zonder steeds: just a comparative — more confident (than before / than someone else).
You can leave it out grammatically, but you slightly change the meaning.
Zelfverzekerd is an adjective meaning “confident.”
Its regular comparative form is zelfverzekerder (“more confident”).
Dutch usually forms comparatives by adding -er:
- groot → groter (big → bigger)
- mooi → mooier (beautiful → more beautiful)
- zelfverzekerd → zelfverzekerder (confident → more confident)
Meer zelfverzekerd is not wrong, but it sounds less natural here. Dutch strongly prefers the -er form when it exists:
- Natural: Ik ben vandaag zelfverzekerder.
- Less natural: Ik ben vandaag meer zelfverzekerd.
So zelfverzekerder is just the normal comparative form.
Formally, zelfverzekerder is the comparative of the adjective zelfverzekerd.
But in practice, Dutch often uses adjective forms after verbs like spreken, lopen, rijden to describe how you do something, similar to adverbs in English.
So:
- Ik spreek zelfverzekerd. – I speak confidently.
- Ik spreek steeds zelfverzekerder. – I speak more and more confidently.
Dutch doesn’t always add a special adverb ending the way English does (-ly).
So an adjective form can function adverbially after the verb, especially with spreken, praten, werken, etc.
Both wanneer and als can be translated as “when”, but:
- Wanneer is a bit more formal / neutral, and often used for time.
- Als is very common in speech and often used for conditions (“if / whenever”).
In this sentence, both are possible:
- Wanneer ik elke dag oefen, spreek ik steeds zelfverzekerder.
- Als ik elke dag oefen, spreek ik steeds zelfverzekerder.
Als will sound slightly more natural in everyday spoken Dutch.
Wanneer is absolutely correct; it can sound a bit more careful or formal.
Wanneer introduces a subordinate clause (a “dependent” clause).
In Dutch subordinate clauses, the finite verb (the conjugated verb) normally goes to the end.
- Main clause: Ik oefen elke dag.
(verb in second position: oefen) - Subordinate clause: wanneer ik elke dag oefen
(same words, but verb pushed to the end)
So the pattern is:
- Main clause: [Subject] – [Verb] – ...
- Subordinate clause after conjunction (wanneer, als, omdat, dat, etc.): [Conjunction] – [Subject] – ... – [Verb]
That’s why we say wanneer ik elke dag oefen, not wanneer ik oefen elke dag.
Yes, and this is very common and fully correct.
Two word orders are both fine:
- Ik spreek steeds zelfverzekerder wanneer ik elke dag oefen.
- Wanneer ik elke dag oefen, spreek ik steeds zelfverzekerder.
Important points:
- In the wanneer-clause (subordinate): verb at the end (oefen).
- In the main clause: verb stays in second position (spreek), even if that main clause comes second in the sentence.
The comma after the subordinate clause is standard in writing:
- Wanneer ik elke dag oefen, spreek ik steeds zelfverzekerder.
Both relate to speaking, but they’re used a bit differently:
spreken
- more about using a language or speaking clearly / formally
- e.g. Ik spreek Nederlands. – I speak Dutch.
Hij spreekt heel rustig. – He speaks very calmly.
praten
- more about chatting / talking with someone
- e.g. We praten over het weer. – We’re talking about the weather.
In your sentence, you’re talking about how you speak (in general), not about chatting with someone, so spreken fits better:
- Ik spreek steeds zelfverzekerder – I speak more and more confidently.
You could say Ik praat steeds zelfverzekerder, but that focuses more on how you talk (converse), and sounds a bit more informal.
Meaning-wise, elke dag and iedere dag both mean “every day”, and they are almost completely interchangeable in this sentence:
- wanneer ik elke dag oefen
- wanneer ik iedere dag oefen
Subtle notes:
- elke is very common and slightly more neutral.
- iedere can sound a little more emphatic in some contexts, but here there’s no big difference.
Most learners can treat them as synonyms for “every”.
In Dutch, you must include the subject pronoun in each clause.
You cannot drop ik the way you might omit “I” in some informal English structures.
So:
- Correct: Ik spreek ... wanneer ik elke dag oefen.
- Incorrect: Ik spreek ... wanneer elke dag oefen.
Every independent clause (even a subordinate one) needs its own subject, unless it’s an imperative (a command) or there’s a special coordinated structure. Here, wanneer ik elke dag oefen is its own clause, so it needs its own ik.
This sounds unnatural in Dutch.
Reasons:
Zelfverzekerd here is used in a way that behaves like an adverb (confidently).
Dutch prefers the comparative form zelfverzekerder after verbs like spreken:- Ik spreek steeds zelfverzekerder. ✅
Steeds meer zelfverzekerd would be understood, but it feels like a clumsy mix:
- steeds meer usually goes with nouns or adjectives in a different structure:
- steeds meer mensen – more and more people
- steeds meer ontspannen – more and more relaxed (often with worden)
- steeds meer usually goes with nouns or adjectives in a different structure:
More natural alternatives:
- Ik spreek steeds zelfverzekerder. ✅
- Ik word steeds meer zelfverzekerd. ✅ (I’m becoming more and more confident.)
But in your original structure with spreek, steeds zelfverzekerder is the idiomatic choice.
Inside a subordinate clause, wanneer ik elke dag oefen is the natural order:
- wanneer (conjunction)
- ik (subject)
- elke dag (time expression)
- oefen (verb at the end)
Alternatives like:
- wanneer ik oefen elke dag ❌ (ungrammatical / very unnatural)
- wanneer elke dag ik oefen ❌ (wrong word order)
In main clauses, you have more flexibility with adverb placement, but in subordinate clauses Dutch strongly prefers placing adverbials (like elke dag) before the final verb.
So stick with wanneer ik elke dag oefen.
Grammatically, both spreek and oefen are present tense:
- Ik spreek... – I speak...
- ik oefen... – I practise...
But in Dutch, the present tense is often used for:
General truths / habits
- That’s the case here: a habitual relation — whenever I practise every day, I (tend to) speak more confidently.
Future events (especially with a time reference)
- e.g. Morgen spreek ik met hem. – Tomorrow I’ll talk with him.
In your sentence, it’s mainly about a general, repeated situation, not a single future event, so the Dutch present tense fits perfectly. You could theoretically say zal spreken, but that would sound more like one specific future result, which is not needed here.