Dutch Word Order

Learn the rules of Dutch word order

   

Need more Dutch? Try the Learn Dutch Online course at Udemy or the audio and video podcasts at DutchPod101.com

---

Buy Dutch Language Tutorial as a PDF e-book! Dutch Language Tutorial includes a vocabulary and grammar review of the Dutch language (more than what is available online), with one hour of mp3 recordings by a native speaker, and Dutch realia photos taken in the Netherlands and Belgium so you can see how the language is used in real life. The PDF e-book and mp3s are available for immediate download with FREE lifetime updates. Thank you for supporting ielanguages.com! Download the first ten pages of Dutch Language Tutorial (including the table of contents).

Buy Dutch Language Tutorial

---

To download the Dutch mp3s, please purchase Dutch Language Tutorial.

Dutch Word Order

 

Dutch word order requires Time - Manner - Place. English generally uses place before time, but Dutch cannot.

Hij gaat morgen met de trein naar Londen. He's going to London tomorrow by train. (Literally: he's going tomorrow by train to London.)

The verb must always be in the second position in a Dutch sentence. This not does not mean that it must always be the second word, however. (Inversion of subject and verb to form questions is an exception.)

In de winter gaat hij met de trein naar Londen. In the winter he's going to London by train. (Literally: In the winter goes he by train to London.)

Separable prefixes, past participles and infinitive always go to the end of the clause or sentence. The double infinitive construction always goes to the end of the clause or sentence as well.

---