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The action or event of a sentence with nadat ‘after’ precedes the action
in the main sentence. Sentences with nadat can only occur in the present
perfect or past perfect. If it is in the present perfect (example 1), the main
sentence is in the present tense. If it is in the past perfect (example 2), the
main sentence is in the simple past (imperfect) tense. Examples:
1 Nadat ik gegeten heb, maak ik het huis schoon.
After I eat (or: have eaten), I’ll clean the house.
Note: The speaker is looking into the future.
2 Nadat ik gegeten had, maakte ik het huis schoon.
After I ate (or: had eaten), I cleaned the house.
Note: The speaker is now looking back on a past event.
Similar to nadat and voordat, the conjunction totdat ‘until’ is used to refer
to a sequence of events. Sentences with totdat can appear in all tenses.
Two examples:
Erik werkte totdat het tijd was om naar huis te gaan.
Erik worked until it was time to go home.
Peter bleef in het museum totdat hij alles had gezien.
Peter stayed in the museum until he had seen everything.
Note: The speaker is looking back on a past event.
Nu, sinds, terwijl, zodra, zolang
An action in a subordinated sentence beginning with nu ‘now’, ‘now that’
happens at the same time or immediately before the action in the main
sentence. If it happens at the same time, both sentences are in the
present or imperfect tense, and if it happens shortly before, the subordinated
sentence with nu is in the present perfect or past perfect tense.
Examples:
Nu het regent, kunnen we niet Now that it rains, we can’t cycle.
fietsen.
Nu ik iets gegeten heb, voel ik Now that I have eaten something,
me beter. I feel better.
The function of sinds ‘ever since’ is to indicate that the action or event in
the subordinated sentence began before and has lasted until the moment
of speech in the main sentence, whether this moment is in the present or
in the past. Examples:
Section 2:
Subordinatingconjunctions
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