Dutch main clauses
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Sign up for freeIn this subchapter you will learn about the Dutch main clauses. The main clauses are independent sentences. To understand the main clauses, the word order must be explained.
Dutch word order
To understand the word order in the Dutch language, we divide the sentence in six different sections. The table below shows the different sections and what words can be placed there.
| Place | 1. First position | 2. Verb | 3. Subject | 4. Middle part | 5. Last verb place | 6. Final position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What words can take the places. |
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The main clause is an independent sentence. The Dutch main clause contains the most important elements: the subject and verb. The object or another verb can be added to the main clause as well. Below you will find the word order of Dutch main clause sentences.
Only subject and finite verb in Dutch sentence
There could be only a subject and verb in a Dutch basic sentence.
| 1. Subject | 2. Finite verb | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| De bel | ging. | The bell rang. |
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Job D. 
Tsarina T.
Rose F.
SANDRA L. 
Leonie B. 
Marcela P. 
Pascale V.
Jonathan V.
Jeff N.
HUGUES JPM P.
Subject, verb and object in Dutch sentence
To give more meaning to a sentence an object can be added, called 'het lijdend voorwerp' in Dutch.
| 1. Subject | 2. Finite verb | 3. Object | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zij | koopt | de bloemen. | She buys the flowers. |
Subject, finite verb, object and more verbs in Dutch
The Dutch language also sometimes adds a verb at the end of the sentence. This is usually the past perfect or infinitive.
| 1. Subject | 2. Finite verb | 3. Object | 4. Past perfect / infinitive | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zij | heeft | de bloemen | gekocht. | She has bought the flowers. |
The time and place are put behind the finite verb, time before place.
The subordinate clause is dependent on the main clause and connected through conjunctions. The first verb in these type of clauses is usually at the end of the sentence.
Train your skills with the Dutch sentence structure exercises below!