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De trein was te laat. Dus kwam ik te laat op mijn werk.
The train was late. Therefore, I was too late for work.
Alternative: Dus ik kwam te laat op mijn werk.
Het boek was heel duur. Dus heb ik het niet gekocht.
The book was very expensive, so I didn’t buy it.
Alternative: Dus ik heb het niet gekocht. Or: Ik heb het dus niet
gekocht.
Conjunctional adverbs of contrast
daarentegen on the other hand
echter, evenwel however, though
niettemin nevertheless, anyhow
desondanks notwithstanding, despite that
integendeel on the contrary
toch nevertheless, anyway
The conjunctional adverbs echter and evenwel are identical in meaning.
Their position in the sentence is not very flexible. They usually follow the
verb. If placed at the beginning of the sentence, they have to be separated
by a comma. Examples:
Erik heeft de trein gemist. Dat is echter (evenwel) geen probleem.
Erik missed the train. That is, however, no problem.
A less preferable alternative: Echter, dat is geen probleem.
Note that echter and evenwel are identical in meaning, but they are
not identical in style. The conjunctional adverb evenwel is more
elevated in style, while echter is much more common in speech and in
writing.
The conjunctional adverbs desondanks, toch and niettemin are nearly
identical in meaning. Their position is usually at the beginning of the sentence,
but they can also appear after the verb or other sentence elements.
Examples:
Erik heeft de trein gemist. Toch komt hij op tijd op zijn werk.
Erik missed the train. He gets to work on time anyway.
Alternative: Hij komt toch op tijd op zijn werk.
Peter had niet gestudeerd; desondanks haalde hij de test.
Peter had not studied. Despite that, he passed the test.
Alternative: Hij haalde desondanks de test.
Conjunctional
adverbs
of contrast
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