# Word order



## bzcolson

I have been struggling to understand the Dutch syntax, but to my understanding it goes something like this:

     Subject verb (direct object) time manner place (direct object) other verbs

So would something like "Ik wil morgen bij me het boek geven" be correct for "I will give you the book tomorrow at my house", or am I misunderstanding something?

Also, I've seen use of _bij_ as being similar to the French _chez_, like _bij me _meaning "at my house", but that's a separate topic.

(Sorry for any spelling errors, my keyboard seems to have given out on me for some reason.)

Thanks, all!


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## Sjonger

I´m not an expert on the syntactic rules in Dutch, but in general the basic order is indeed SVO, in which V = persoonsvorm (don't know the English word)

Ik geef je morgen bij mij (not 'bij me', and 'bij mij thuis' would be better in this case) het boek. 
Ik zal (if future is meant) je morgen bij mij thuis het boek geven 
Ik wil (if a wish is expressed) je morgen bij mij thuis het boek geven.

As in English you could always place time manner of place first, depending on which you want to put emphasis, but in Dutch this element takes the place of the subject, which then comes directly after the V:

Morgen zal ik je bij mij thuis het boek geven (slight emphasis on 'morgen') 
Jou zal ik morgen bij mij thuis het boek geven (strong emphasis on 'you', i.e. because the others already have it)


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## YellowOnline

These are actually a few separate issues 

First, syntax: I think you should read up on "V2 word order" in Germanic languages (cf. this Wikipedia article), as it is quite elaborate without being too technical either and has plenty of examples from different languages.

Second, your translation: the personal pronoun "you" got lost in translation and should be added. Apart from that, it would be a decent sentence. It can be better of course: see Sjonger's post for details on that.

Third, using 'bij' similar to the French 'chez': in most cases that's perfectly fine, but only in usage of 'bij'. Here you translated 'chez moi' into 'bij mij', which goes beyond merely using 'bij' in the same way as 'chez': you're translating a figure of speech that would be translated as "bij mij thuis".


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## bzcolson

Yeah, I'm going to struggle with future being Ik zal, not Ik wil. So, the correct sentence would be: Ik zal je morgen bij mij thuis het boek geven.

Another question: what is 'thuis', and why is it used there?


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## YellowOnline

bzcolson said:


> Yeah, I'm going to struggle with future being Ik zal, not Ik wil. So, the correct sentence would be: Ik zal je morgen bij mij thuis het boek geven.
> 
> Another question: what is 'thuis', and why is it used there?



'Thuis' is a contraction of "te huis", so it would be "(at) home" in English. Perhaps, in the far future, there will be an English word "thome" fulfilling the same role  Probably not though, as this is not contracted that way in everyday speech, at least in any English variety I know.


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## Peterdg

Believe me, if there is anything that will give you an headache with Dutch, it will be the word order.


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## ThomasK

bzcolson said:


> ... to my understanding it goes something like this:
> 
> *Subject [conjug.]    verb   PRO           time   manner/duration/...   place           direct object/ predicate/prep. object                 [Prefix] other verbs*


Just starting from the above rule of thumb may help. Every language has its peculiarities, I guess, but Dutch need not be that bad...


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