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We zouden kunnen gaan vissen. We could go fishing.
Je zou hier moeten kunnen roken. One should be allowed to smoke
here.
Zou je willen blijven eten? Would you like to stay for dinner?
Je zou je haar eens moeten laten You should have a haircut.
knippen.
Four infinitives
Less common in speech, but certainly possible, are sentences with zou in
combination with two modal verbs and one main verb in the past perfect.
These sentences are used in wishful thinking or fantasies about a past
that cannot be changed anymore, or in very friendly ‘after the fact’ advice,
telling someone what one should have done, but didn’t.
Ik zou die groep hebben willen zien spelen.
I would have liked to see that band play.
We zouden hebben kunnen gaan vissen.
We could have gone fishing.
Je zou die auto hebben moeten laten repareren.
You should have had that car fixed.
In speech, we would probably prefer to use the proper past perfect form
with had and three infinitives.
Ik had die groep willen zien spelen.
We hadden kunnen gaan vissen.
Je had die auto moeten laten repareren.
Note that in a sentence with four infinitives at the end, the order is as
follows: First, the helping verb of the past perfect, here as an infinitive,
then the modal verb, then the verb that can be used as such, and lastly
the main verb.
Subordinated sentences with one or more infinitives
In a subordinated sentence with a larger infinitive group at the end, the
word order is nearly the same as in the main sentence, with one exception:
If the verb group has only two verbs in it, that is one modal verb and one
main verb, the word order can be twofold. However, the preferred form
is the one with the modal verb first. Examples:
Four
infinitives
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