Place: where? | Dutch Grammar

For this sentence-component we ask: "Where(to)?"

Or to be more precise: "Where is the subject when the act/event takes place?". I stressed the subject, because a phrase can also indicate the place of a direct object, e.g "I throw a ball against the wall". The part _against the wall_ is really the place of the ball, not of me (the subject).

Elements that we do not regard as PLACE:

"Where is the direct object" may give us a place, but not the place of the subject, which we are dealing with here. The direct object's place conveniently falls under the 'MISCELLANEOUS' category in the right part of the sentence.
Although the adverbs _er, hier_ and _daar_ can perfectly indicate the position of the subject, they get their own place in a sentence. Together, they make up the [EHD component](#/lesson/WordOrder.09), which sits at the beginning of the middle part.

The position of PLACE is at the end of the middle part. The only component that could follow after it is the direct object.

Examples

[FF](#/lesson/WordOrder.04) | [TIME](#/lesson/WordOrder.13) | [MANNER](#/lesson/WordOrder.13) | PLACE | [OV](#/lesson/WordOrder.24)

Kees gaat | morgen | met Ineke | naar de film | \-\-\-

Tomorrow, Kees goes to the movies with Ineke.

[FF](#/lesson/WordOrder.04) | [TIME](#/lesson/WordOrder.13) | [MANNER](#/lesson/WordOrder.13) | PLACE | [OV](#/lesson/WordOrder.24)

Jelle heeft | vorig jaar | drie maanden | in Zuid-Afrika | gewoond

Last year, Jelle lived in South-Africa for three months.

To determine PLACE, we ask "Where was Jelle (subject) during the event?" The construction 'drie maanden' means 'for three months'. Since it does not answer the question "When?" but rather "How long?", it is a 'how-element' (MANNER).

[FF](#/lesson/WordOrder.04) | [TIME](#/lesson/WordOrder.13) | [MANNER](#/lesson/WordOrder.13) | PLACE | [OV](#/lesson/WordOrder.24)

Hij is | vrijdag | de hele avond | op kantoor | gebleven

Friday, he stayed at the office all night.

It is easy to see that PLACE is 'op kantoor'.

Yesterday, I accidentally dropped my keys in the canal.

_In de gracht_ (in the canal) is the place of the keys (direct object), which falls under the MISCELLANEOUS category. This phrase does not contain a PLACE element, because the place of the subject is not defined (although we can assume the subject was standing next to the canal).

[FF](#/lesson/WordOrder.04) | PLACE | [DIROB](#/lesson/WordOrder.16) | [MISC](#/lesson/WordOrder.28) | OV

Wij hebben | thuis | een antieke klok | aan de muur | hangen

At home, we have an antique clock (hanging) on the wall.

Two points about the above sentence:

_Aan de muur_ (on the wall) is clearly the place of the direct object, not of the subject.
In the above example, there is no action or event. Many phrases, do not express an event, but a stable situation. If you ask "where does the event of having a clock (hanging on your wall) take place?", we could reply "Any place where we happen to be". Whether we are in India or in Mexico, we will still be having this antique clock hanging on our wall at home (hopefully). However, despite this minor flaw, we will still regard _thuis_ (at home) as a PLACE element.