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5 Praat Erik vaak over politiek? Nee, hij zegt dat hij er bijna nooit
over praat.
Does Erik talk about politics a lot? No, he says he almost never
talks about it.
6 Dacht je deze week veel aan je belastingformulieren? Ja, ik was
boos omdat ik er gisteren de hele dag aan moest denken.
Did you think about your tax forms a lot this week? Yes, I
was angry because yesterday I had to think about them the
entire day.
Pronominal adverbs with hier and daar
The pronominal adverbs beginning with hier- or daar- differ from those
with er- because they can appear unseparated or separated at the beginning
of the sentence, whereas a pronominal adverb with er- cannot.
Whether to use hier- or daar- depends on the speaker’s distance, in time
or in place, from the object of the sentence. Examples:
Denk je nog wel eens aan die vreselijke vakantie op Terschelling? Nee,
daaraan wil ik nooit meer denken.
Do you ever think about that terrible vacation on Terschelling? No, I
never want to think about that again.
Alternative: Nee, daar wil ik nooit meer aan denken.
Or: Nee, ik wil daar nooit meer aan denken.
Heb je geen betere schaar voor me? Hiermee kan ik niks beginnen.
Don’t you have a better pair of scissors for me? I can’t do anything
with this.
Alternative: Hier kan ik niks mee beginnen.
Or: Ik kan hier niks mee beginnen.
In the first sentence, the object of the conversation, the trip to
Terschelling, lies further away in the speaker’s past. That is why the
pronominal adverb with daar- is used. In the second sentence, the speaker
has the scissors in his/her hands, is close to the object, and thus he/she
uses the pronominal adverb with hier-. Grammatically, all three varieties
in word order in both sentences are equally correct. It is a matter of
preference what the speaker wishes to emphasize. The most important thing
to remember is that pronominal adverbs with hier- and daar- can be at
the beginning of the sentence, while er- cannot.
Daarvan heb ik nog nooit gehoord.
Or: Daar heb ik nog nooit van gehoord.
Pronominal
adverbs
with hier
and daar
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