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they usually follow the verb, but they can also come after a direct object.
Note also that each conjunctional adverb links its sentence to the sentence
before it in a meaningful way (this is how it differs from a regular adverb),
creating a relationship of time, cause and effect, contrast or conclusion.
Conjunctional adverbs of time
daarna, daarvoor after that, before that
dan, toen then, at that moment
The adverbs daarna and daarvoor are used to express an order of events.
They can be at the beginning or after the verb in the second of two main
sentences. Examples:
Erik heeft een belangrijke afspraak. Daarna gaat hij met een collega
lunchen.
Erik has an important appointment today. After that he’ll go out to lunch
with a colleague.
Alternative: Hij gaat daarna met een collega lunchen.
Sanne was gisteren voor het eerst in een yogales. Daarvoor was ze nog
nooit in een yogales geweest.
Sanne was in a yoga class yesterday for the first time. Before that, she
had never been in a yoga class.
Alternative: Ze was daarvoor nog nooit in een yogales geweest.
The conjunctional adverbs dan and toen have a similar function, to
express a certain order or a specific point in time. An important difference,
however, is that toen is only used for past events, while dan can
be used for both. If dan is used in the past tense, it describes recurrent
events, habits, what one used to do regularly. Examples:
Erik zat al in de trein. Toen merkte hij dat hij zijn abonnement
vergeten had.
Erik was already on the train. Then he noticed he had forgotten his
train pass.
In 1992 waren Erik en Sanne in Parijs. Ze hadden toen nog geen
kinderen.
In 1992, Erik and Sanne were in Paris. They didn’t have children at
the time.
Note the difference here between toen as a conjunctional adverb and
toen as a proper conjunction. As a proper conjunction, toen takes a
Conjunctional
adverbs
of time
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