Breakdown of Wij worden steeds beter in het vak Nederlands.
Questions & Answers about Wij worden steeds beter in het vak Nederlands.
In Dutch, worden often means “to become / to get”, not just “to be”.
- Wij worden steeds beter...
→ literally: We are becoming/getting better...
If you used zijn:
- Wij zijn steeds beter in het vak Nederlands.
this sounds more like “We are always better in the subject Dutch” (with a strange nuance), not about a change or improvement over time.
Use worden + adjective for change:
- Ik word moe. – I’m getting tired.
- Het weer wordt warmer. – The weather is getting warmer.
- Zij worden boos. – They are getting angry.
So worden here expresses the idea of progress / improvement.
Dutch normally does not use a special continuous tense the way English does.
English:
- We are getting better at Dutch.
Dutch uses the simple present with a verb of change:
- Wij worden steeds beter in het vak Nederlands.
This Dutch sentence already has an ongoing / gradual meaning because of:
- the verb worden (become, get)
- the adverb steeds (increasingly, more and more)
So Dutch doesn’t need a separate “-ing” form to express that the improvement is in progress. Context and words like worden, steeds, langzamerhand, gaandeweg handle that nuance.
Steeds literally means something like “again and again / continually / more and more”, depending on context.
In steeds beter, the idea is:
- steeds beter = better and better, increasingly better, constantly improving
Some examples:
- Het wordt steeds warmer. – It’s getting warmer and warmer.
- Hij begrijpt het steeds beter. – He understands it better and better.
- Ze komt steeds te laat. – She keeps arriving late.
If you remove steeds:
- Wij worden beter in het vak Nederlands.
That is still correct, but it just states improvement without emphasizing the continuous / ongoing nature of it. Steeds adds that feeling of gradual, repeated improvement.
In Dutch, comparatives are usually made with a special form, not by adding meer before a regular adjective.
- goed → beter (not meer goed for “better”)
- slecht → slechter (not meer slecht for “worse”)
- mooi → mooier (not meer mooi for “more beautiful”)
So beter already means “better”.
- Wij worden beter in het vak Nederlands. – We are getting better at the subject Dutch.
Adding meer (meer beter) is wrong, exactly like “more better” is wrong in English.
Steeds does not mean “more” here; it means “increasingly / more and more” in a temporal or gradual sense, so steeds beter = “better and better”.
Dutch uses the preposition in for being good or bad at a subject or skill:
- goed zijn in iets – to be good at something
- beter worden in iets – to get better at something
Examples:
- Ik ben goed in wiskunde. – I am good at math.
- Zij wordt beter in zwemmen. – She is getting better at swimming.
- Wij worden steeds beter in het vak Nederlands. – We are getting better and better in/at the subject Dutch.
Using op here (beter worden op Nederlands) would be incorrect or at least sound very unnatural.
So: in + subject/skill is the normal pattern.
Vak here means “school subject” (or more generally: a field/discipline).
So het vak Nederlands is:
- het vak – the (school) subject
- Nederlands – Dutch (language)
Together: “the subject Dutch”, i.e. Dutch class at school.
Other examples:
- het vak wiskunde – math class (the subject math)
- het vak geschiedenis – history
- Het vak biologie vind ik leuk. – I like the subject biology.
Be careful: vak has nothing to do with English “vacation”. That’s vakantie in Dutch.
In Dutch, every noun has a grammatical gender: de-words (common gender) or het-words (neuter).
- het vak is a neuter noun, so it always takes het as the definite article:
- het vak – the subject
- een leuk vak – a nice subject
- dat vak – that subject
This is just something you need to memorize: vak is an het-word.
In the sentence:
- in het vak Nederlands
the word het belongs to vak, not to Nederlands.
In Dutch, names of languages are written with a capital letter:
- Nederlands – Dutch
- Engels – English
- Frans – French
- Duits – German
But the adjective (meaning “Dutch, English, etc.” in a descriptive sense) is written with a small letter and often ends in -se:
- Nederlandse kaas – Dutch cheese
- een Engelse krant – an English newspaper
- een Franse film – a French film
In het vak Nederlands, Nederlands is the language/subject, not an adjective, so it’s capitalized.
Dutch has two forms for “we”:
- wij – stressed, more emphatic
- we – unstressed, more neutral/common
Both are grammatically correct here:
- Wij worden steeds beter in het vak Nederlands.
- We worden steeds beter in het vak Nederlands.
The difference is emphasis:
- Wij can highlight contrast (“WE are getting better”, not someone else) or be slightly more formal or emphatic.
- We is what you’ll hear most in everyday speech.
So the sentence with wij might suggest a bit more emphasis on the group (“we ourselves are really improving”).
The phrase het vak Nederlands strongly suggests a school context:
- het vak Nederlands = the subject Nederlands at school (Dutch class)
If you want to talk more generally about skill in the language (not as a school subject), you might say:
- Wij worden steeds beter in het Nederlands. – We’re getting better and better in Dutch (the language).
- Wij spreken steeds beter Nederlands. – We speak Dutch better and better.
So:
- in het vak Nederlands → “in the school subject ‘Dutch’”
- in het Nederlands / Nederlands → more about ability in the language itself, not necessarily tied to school.
Yes, you can. Both are natural, but there is a nuance:
Wij worden steeds beter in het vak Nederlands.
– We are getting better and better (gradual, ongoing improvement).Wij worden beter en beter in het vak Nederlands.
– Literally “We are becoming better and better”; this sounds a bit more emphatic or dramatic, very close to English “better and better”.
Steeds beter is the more neutral, very common option in everyday language. Beter en beter often gives a slightly stronger, more expressive emphasis on the progression.