Breakdown of Fotografeer de beschadiging met het bestelnummer.
met
with
fotograferen
to photograph
het bestelnummer
the order number
de beschadiging
the damage (physical)
Questions & Answers about Fotografeer de beschadiging met het bestelnummer.
Why does the sentence begin with fotografeer?
Because fotografeer is the imperative form of fotograferen, so the sentence is giving an instruction: Photograph ...
With many Dutch verbs ending in -eren, the imperative looks like this:
- fotograferen → fotografeer
- proberen → probeer
- studeren → studeer
This is very common in instructions on forms, websites, and packaging.
Why is there no subject like je or u?
Dutch usually leaves the subject out in an imperative. Just like English says Take a photo, Dutch can simply say Fotografeer ...
The missing subject is an understood you. In instruction-style Dutch, this often means whoever is reading this.
If someone wanted to make it more polite or less direct, they might use a different structure, for example:
- Wilt u de beschadiging fotograferen?
- Kunt u een foto maken van de beschadiging?
But for short instructions, the bare imperative is normal.
Why is it de beschadiging and not een beschadiging?