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Erik heeft niet kunnen komen. Erik wasn’t able to come.
Hij heeft de auto laten repareren. He had the car fixed.
Johan is gisteren blijven eten. Johan stayed for dinner yesterday.
Ik heb dat voelen aankomen. I could feel that that was coming.
Ik heb jou nog nooit zien dansen. I have never seen you dance.
Note that the present perfect helping verb is the conjugated verb in
second place, the modal verb is the first infinitive, and the infinitive of
the main verb comes last.
The verb zullen with two infinitives
The future tense of a sentence with a modal auxiliary verb (often used in
the form of a hypothesis with wel) has two infinitives at the end. Also, a
sentence with zou in the conditional combined with a modal verb has two
infinitives at the end.
Hij zal (wel) niet kunnen komen. He (probably) won’t be able to
come.
Ze zal het niet hebben begrepen. She probably didn’t understand.
Ik zou die auto laten repareren. I would have that car fixed.
We zouden graag willen komen. We would very much like to come.
Three infinitives
When you combine any two of the modal auxiliary verbs from above with
a main verb, and when you put such a combination in the present perfect,
you end up with a sentence with three infinitives at the end. First, some
examples in the present tense:
Johan kan niet blijven eten. Johan cannot stay for dinner.
Erik wil de auto niet laten Erik doesn’t want to have the car
repareren. fixed.
Sanne kan dat zien aankomen. Sanne can see that coming.
Next, you see the same sentences in the present perfect:
Johan heeft niet kunnen blijven eten.
Johan couldn’t stay for dinner.
Erik heeft de auto niet willen laten repareren.
Erik didn’t want to have the car fixed.
The verb
zullen
with two
infinitives
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