Yes/no questions
A1 Ja/nee-vragen 10 / 48
In short
To ask a yes/no question, simply put the verb first, then the subject: Woon jij hier? (“Do you live here?”). There is no “do/does” in Dutch.
The rule
A statement in Dutch follows subject + verb (Jij woont hier - “You live here”). To turn it into a yes/no question, you swap them: the finite verb comes first, the subject second. This is called inversion.
- Statement: Jij woont hier. -> Question: Woon jij hier?
- Statement: Je hebt tijd. -> Question: Heb je tijd?
The one tricky point: with jij / je the verb drops its -t when it stands before the subject. So jij woont becomes woon jij?, and je hebt becomes heb je?. This only happens with jij/je - all other subjects keep their normal form.
There is no “do” in Dutch: “Do you have time?” is just Heb je tijd?, never Doe je tijd hebben?
Forms & patterns
The -t only disappears for jij / je. Compare statement and question with werken (“to work”):
| Subject | Statement | Question |
|---|---|---|
| ik | ik werk | Werk ik? |
| jij / je | jij werkt | Werk jij? / Werk je? (drops -t) |
| u | u werkt | Werkt u? |
| hij / zij / het | hij werkt | Werkt hij? |
| wij / we | wij werken | Werken we? |
| jullie | jullie werken | Werken jullie? |
| zij / ze | zij werken | Werken ze? |
The same -t drop applies to the common irregular verbs with jij/je:
| Statement | Question |
|---|---|
| je bent | Ben je? |
| je hebt | Heb je? |
| je kunt | Kun je? |
| je zult | Zul je? |
| je wilt | Wil je? |
Examples
| Nederlands | English |
|---|---|
| Woon jij hier? | Do you live here? |
| Heb je tijd? | Do you have time? |
| Kom je mee? | Are you coming along? |
| Spreekt u Engels? | Do you speak English? |
| Werken jullie morgen? | Are you working tomorrow? |
| Is hij thuis? | Is he home? |
| Ga je naar de les? | Are you going to class? |
| Heb je geen honger? - Jawel! | Aren’t you hungry? - Yes, I am! |
Answering
- Ja = yes -> Woon jij hier? - Ja.
- Nee = no -> Heb je tijd? - Nee.
- Jawel = yes, contradicting a negative question or statement -> Je hebt zeker geen tijd? - Jawel! (“You don’t have time, right? - Yes, I do!”)
Use jawel (not plain ja) when you correct something negative. It means roughly “yes, on the contrary.”
Common mistakes
- Woont jij hier? -> Woon jij hier? - drop the -t when jij/je follows the verb.
- Doe je wonen hier? -> Woon je hier? - Dutch has no “do”; just invert the verb.
- Jij hebt tijd? -> Heb je tijd? - a real question needs the verb first, not subject first.
- Heb je geen tijd? - Ja. -> … - Jawel! - to contradict a negative, use jawel, not ja.
- Hebt je tijd? -> Heb je tijd? - the irregular jij-form hebt also loses its -t in inversion.
Tips
- Memory hook: when jij/je hops behind the verb, the -t falls off. Everywhere else the verb is unchanged.
- No “do/does” exists - just flip the word order. This makes Dutch questions shorter than English ones.
- For u nothing changes: u werkt stays Werkt u? (the -t stays).
- Reach for jawel whenever you want to say “yes” against a “no” - it is the polite way to disagree.