Adverbs of Frequency & Time
Adverbs of Frequency & Time
Dutch frequency adverbs sit in a fixed slot after the verb and subject, never before the verb as English 'often' and 'always' do. 'I often go' can only be Ik ga vaak, never 'ik vaak ga'.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Frequency adverbs follow the verb, not precede it
Ik ga vaak naar de markt. Hij is altijd te laat.
I often go to the market. He is always late.
English places these adverbs between subject and main verb: 'I often go', 'she never eats'. Dutch cannot break up the subject-verb sequence in a main clause, because the verb must stay in second position. The adverb therefore lands immediately after the subject: Ik ga vaak, Zij eet nooit. Word-for-word translation from English produces an impossible sentence here, so it is worth over-practising.
nooit and niet occupy the same slot
Ik eet nooit vlees. Ik eet geen vlees.
I never eat meat. I don't eat meat.
nooit ('never') behaves like the negation words you already know, sitting in the same position as niet — after the verb and any object pronouns, before place expressions and the final verb cluster. Note that with an indefinite noun you need geen rather than niet, and nooit can combine with it for emphasis: Ik eet nooit geen vlees is wrong, but Ik heb nog nooit vlees gegeten is a natural intensifier.
's morgens and 's maandags express habitual times
's morgens, 's avonds, 's maandags
in the mornings, in the evenings, on Mondays
To say something happens habitually at a certain time, Dutch uses a fossilized genitive with 's plus the -s ending: 's morgens werk ik thuis. The apostrophe is a leftover of the old article des. English marks the same idea with a plural — 'on Mondays', 'in the mornings'. The pattern is limited to a fixed set of time words, so treat these as vocabulary rather than a rule to apply freely.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- always
- English
- often
- English
- sometimes
- English
- rarely
- English
- never
- English
- usually
- English
- now and then
- English
- in the mornings
- English
- in the evenings
- English
- every day
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