er - Home

24
Word
order
168
Translations: 1 I think Sanne is working today; 2 Peter studies because he
has to do a test in French; 3 Sanne asks whether Karin is staying home
for dinner today; 4 Do you think he committed that murder?; 5 Do you
know what has to be done today?; 6 Do you think what he said is true?
Generally, in a subordinated sentence, the first position is taken by the
connector (link), usually a subordinating conjunction. Most of the time,
the subject takes the second position. The third position is taken by
those sentence elements that take the middle part in a main sentence:
time, place, direct and indirect objects (including relative sentences with
those objects), prepositional phrases, adverbs, and so on. The fourth
position is taken by the conjugated verb and other parts of the verb group
such as past participles and infinitives. In the fifth position, we might
find a prepositional phrase, an infinitive construction with om...te or
another clause.
Word order in the second verb group
Modal verbs such as kunnen and moeten take the second position in a
main sentence (example 1), and in a subordinated sentence, they can be
on either side of the main verb, although in speech we prefer to put the
modal verb before the main verb (examples 2, 3).
1 Peter moet dit weekend voor een test studeren.
Peter has to study for a test this weekend.
2 Peter zegt dat hij dit weekend voor een test studeren moet.
Peter says that he has to study for a test this weekend.
3 Peter zegt dat hij dit weekend voor een test moet studeren.
Peter says that he has to study for a test this weekend.
The auxiliary verbs for the present perfect, hebben and zijn, are placed
in the second position in a main sentence (example 4), and in a subordinated
sentence, they can be placed on either side of the past participle,
although in speech we prefer to put them before the past participle
(examples 5, 6). A separable prefix can be separated from the participle or
not (example 7).
4 Peter heeft z’n test goed gedaan.
Peter did well in his test.
5 Peter zegt dat hij zijn test goed gedaan heeft.
Peter says he did well in his test.
6 Peter zegt dat hij zijn test goed heeft gedaan.
Peter says he did well in his test.
7 Sanne vraagt of oma Beumer op heeft gebeld/heeft opgebeld.
Sanne asks if grandmother Beumer called.