Dutch Grammar

The Sentence Structure — De Zinsstructuur

Dutch word order can change depending on the sentence type. The best place to start is the "hoofdzin" (main sentence). Once this pattern feels natural, other sentence patterns become much easier.

Think of the main sentence as up to six slots. Slot 1 is the subject, slot 2 is the conjugated verb, and those two stay next to each other. After that you can add time (when?), other information, place (where?), and finally a second verb in the infinitive. Not every sentence uses all six slots: short patterns like 1-2-3 ("Ik werk morgen.") and 1-2-5 ("Ik werk thuis.") are also correct.

The Main Sentence — De Hoofdzin

Ik wil morgen in Utrecht werken.

I want to work in Utrecht tomorrow.

Mijn broer moet vanavond thuis koken.

My brother has to cook at home tonight.

De kinderen spelen vandaag in het park.

The children are playing in the park today.

Inversion — Hoofdzin met Inversie

In real Dutch, we often start with time, place, or another detail instead of the subject. As soon as you do that, word order changes: the verb comes before the subject. This pattern is called inversion.

Keep this one rule in mind: the conjugated verb must stay in position 2. So if position 1 is taken by something else, the subject moves to position 3. Position 1 does not need to be time; it can also be place or another detail ("In Utrecht werk ik."). Time is optional in inversion.

Morgen wil ik in Utrecht werken.

Tomorrow I want to work in Utrecht.

Vanavond moet mijn broer thuis koken.

Tonight my brother has to cook at home.

Starting with place is less common, but you can use it when you want to stress the location:

In het park spelen de kinderen vandaag.

In the park, the children are playing today.