er - Home

1
Conjunctions
6
Sinds Erik een auto heeft, fietst hij niet meer naar z’n werk.
Ever since Erik has had a car, he hasn’t cycled to work.
Sinds dat café gesloten was, was het veel rustiger in de straat.
Ever since the pub had been closed, the street was much more quiet.
Dutch sinds often gets confused with English ‘since’/‘because’. The
English sentence ‘He’s not coming since his wife is sick’ translates into
Dutch Hij komt niet omdat zijn vrouw ziek is. It is best to remember Dutch
sinds by thinking of English ‘ever since’.
The conjunction terwijl ‘while’, ‘during’ indicates that the actions or events
of the main sentence and the coordinated sentence are happening at the
same time. Examples:
Terwijl hij koffie drinkt, leest Erik de krant.
Erik has coffee while reading the paper.
Erik deed de was terwijl Sanne de hond uitliet.
Erik did the laundry while Sanne walked the dog.
An action or event in a subordinated sentence with zodra ‘as soon as’
is still to begin, while an action or event in a subordinated sentence with
zolang ‘as long as’ has already begun and will last as long as the action
of the main sentence. Examples:
Ik help je zodra ik tijd heb.
I’ll help you as soon as I have time.
Ik help je zolang (als) ik tijd heb.
I’ll help you for as long as I have time.
Similar to English, zolang can also be used in a conditional sentence.
Example:
Je mag uitgaan zolang je maar om tien uur thuis bent.
You may go out as long as you’re home by ten.
Conjunctions of cause (reason) and effect
aangezien, daar, doordat, omdat because zodat so that
Examples in context:
Erik is vandaag vroeg naar zijn werk gegaan, omdat/aangezien/daar
het slecht weer was. En doordat de weg glad was, moest hij heel