"She runs to him."

Translation: Zij rent naar hem toe.

[sofiarayol]

What does this "toe" at the end mean?

[amhum2]

It gives the preposition 'naar' a meaning of motion, i.e. She ran to(wards) him.

[sofiarayol]

dank je wel!

[sarabkr]

Why can't it be 'zij rent aan hem' or 'zij rent toe hem'? Or even 'zij rent tegen hem'?

[El2theK]

The "to" in the English sentence indicates that she is running towards him, which in Dutch is "naar toe"

"Zij rent aan hem" does not mean anything, "Zij rent toe hem" as well as it needs "naar", "Zij rent tegen hem" would be "She runs against him." in a competitive way, or if you say "Zij rent tegen hem aan" it means "She runs into him" (literally colliding).

[beloeng]

Good explanation. But would "Zij rent naar hem" without "toe" be okay here as well? At least it would also mean "She runs to him"?

[CraigHealey1]

Why can't I use hardlopen (zij hardloopt) in place of rennen or lopen?

[gabrielesapuppo]

why can't i use tegen instead of naar ? it should mean via or something like dat

[San564180]

as El2thek pointed out "Zij rent tegen hem" would be "She runs against him." in a competitive way, or if you say "Zij rent tegen hem aan" it means "She runs into him" (literally colliding).