Chapter III
Parts of the Day (Delen van de dag)
A deep dive into the parts of the Day (Delen van de dag)
Like the days of the week, these words are not capitalized in Dutch.
| 🇬🇧English | 🇳🇱 Dutch | Pronunciation Hint |
|---|---|---|
| Morning | de ochtend | de okh-tent |
| Afternoon | de middag | de mid-dahkh |
| Evening | de avond | de afont |
| Night | de nacht | de nakht |
Combining Days and Times (e.g., “Monday morning”)
To say “Monday morning” or “Friday evening,” you simply stick the two words together into one single word!
| 🇳🇱 Sentence | 🇬🇧 Example |
|---|---|
| Maandagochtend | Monday morning |
| Woensdagmiddag | Wednesday afternoon |
| Vrijdagavond | Friday evening |
| Zaterdagnacht | Saturday night |
How to Say “In the morning” vs. “Every morning”
There are two easy ways to use these words in a sentence, and they trip up beginners often:
Talking about a specific time (In the / At)
In Dutch, you use the preposition ’s (which is short for an old word des) before the time of day, or the word in.
- ’s Ochtends (sokh-tents) — In the morning
- ’s Middags (smid-dahkhs) — In the afternoon
- ’s Avonds (sah-vonts) — In the evening
- ’s Nachts (snakhts) — At night
Example: Ik drink koffie ’s ochtends. (I drink coffee in the morning.)
2. Talking about routines (Every morning / Monday mornings)
If you want to say you do something every Monday morning as a routine, you just add an -s to the very end of the combined word:
Maandagochtends — On Monday mornings (every Monday morning)
Vrijdagavonds — On Friday evenings (every Friday evening)
2.5 Oefening (Exercise)
- “Ik werk niet op zaterdag en zondag. Ik werk nooit in het __________.”
- “Vanavond ga ik slapen, want na de avond komt de __________.”