Direct object - Lijdend voorwerp

Click here for self-correcting exercises on direct objects.
A sentence normally contains a subject and a verb. Often, but not necessarily, a sentence also contains an object, or, more specifically, a direct object. It is a second ‘player' or ‘actor' and is the person or thing undergoing the action. Look at the examples below:

(1) Alan studeert. Alan studies.
(2) Alan studeert Nederlands. Alan studies Dutch.

In the first sentence, we have Alan as subject and studeert as the verb. In the second sentence, Nederlands is the direct object. The direct object is affected by the action of the verb. You can find the direct object by asking the question: 'What [verb] [subject]?' In the case of the example, you can ask the question ‘What does Alan study?'. The answer is the object of the subject's action, namely ‘Dutch'. A direct object can also be a noun group rather than a single noun:

Ik studeer Nederlands en bedrijfskunde.
I study Dutch and business studies.

Sara houdt van hartige pannenkoeken met kaas.
Sara likes savoury pancakes with cheese.

Personal pronouns also have direct object forms, for example haar in the sentence below:
Alan belt Simone. ® Alan belt haar.
Alan rings Simone. ® Alan rings her.

An object can only occur with a transitive verb.