samen

Samen is a Dutch word that means together or in concert with others. It functions primarily as an adverb to indicate joint action or mutual involvement, as in We gaan samen naar het festival (We are going to the festival together) or Laten we dit samen oplossen (Let us solve this together). Beyond adverbial use, samen serves as a productive prefix in many compound verbs and nouns that express cooperation, fusion, or unity.

Common compounds formed with samen include samenwerken (to cooperate), samenvoegen (to merge or combine), samenkomen (to come together), and samenstellen (to compose or assemble). Other widely used terms are samenhang (coherence or connectedness), samenwerking (collaboration), and samenspel (interaction or interplay). The phrasing samen met means together with, as in samenwerken met iemand (to collaborate with someone). In political, social, and organizational contexts, samen frequently conveys a sense of solidarity or joint effort.

Etymologically, samen is of Germanic origin and has cognates in related languages; it is historically linked to forms in West Germanic languages and is closely aligned with the concept of unity across Germanic-derived tongues. In Dutch usage, the word is versatile and appears in everyday speech, literature, media, and formal discourse, often signaling cooperation, mutual action, or collective purpose.

See also: Dutch prefixes and derivational morphology, words for cooperation and collective action, related terms in Frisian and German.