LESSON NOTES

Learn Dutch in Three Minutes #23

Asking "When" in Dutch

CONTENTS
2 Grammar

# 23
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GRAMMAR

The focus of this lesson is asking "When" in Dutch

Topic 1: How to use of the question word "when"

Sentence from the lesson:

Wanneer kom je terug?

"When will you come back home?"

1. Let's break down this answer:

Wanneer, which is the basic translation of "When" in Dutch.
Kom is the verb "to come," komen in the present tense, as you might remember.
je, which is the word for "you."
terug which is "back."

2. In Dutch, "When" is translated as the word wanneer.

For example:
Wanneer ben je geboren?
"When were you born?"
Wanneer ben je aangekomen?
"When did you arrive?"
It is exactly the same pattern: first we have Wanneer, which is "When." The second
word is ben, which might puzzle you, because it is a conjugation of the verb zijn, "to
be." Then we have je, "you." And finally aangekomen, which means "arrive'.

3. Did you notice a difference between the sentences Wanneer kom je terug? and
Wanneer ben je aangekomen? The first one is talking about a future action ("When
are you coming back home?"), whereas the 2nd one is referring to the past ("When
did you arrive?"). The conclusion is that you can use the interrogative word wanneer
to talk about any moment, whether past or present.

Topic 2: How to talk about duration

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Sentence from the lesson:

Sinds wanneer ben jij leraar?

"Since when have you been teacher?"

1. If you want to ask a question about duration such as "Since when have you been a
teacher?," you will have to say Sinds wanneer ben jij leraar?
Here too, it's exactly the same as in English, because "since" is sinds. So Sinds
wanneer? means "Since when?"

2. Let's say you want to meet a friend. How would you ask "When shall we meet?" in
Dutch? It's easy because you can translate it directly. It becomes Wanneer zullen we
afspreken?
Here we use the verb zullen, which means "shall." So you can use it when you want
to talk about the future. Then we have "we" which is we in Dutch. And finally
afspreken, which is the infinitive form of the verb afspreken, which means "to meet."

3. There are also other ways to ask about time. You can even be more specific by
asking about the year, the date, or the hour.
For example:
Wanneer ben je deze maand begonnen met werken?
"When did you start working this month?"
Wanneer heb je vorig jaar gereisd?
"When did you travel last year?"

Language Tip

To ask how long an action has been taking place in Dutch, we say Hoe lang. It sounds a lot
like "how long" in English! And the sentence is similar too in structure Hoe lang heb je ...? As
in Hoe lang heb je gewacht? That is "How long have you been waiting?"

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