Practice English Speaking&Listening with: SUBORDINATE CLAUSES in DUTCH // Nederlandse bijzinnen (NT2 - A2)

If I win a million euros ...

If win I a million euros ....?

No?

If I a million euros win ...?

Hi everybody! Welcome to the first video of 2020.

And first of all I want to wish you a great,

happy, healthy, fantastic new year!

So, a kiss for all of you!

And that you may learn a lot of Dutch this year.

We are going to start with a difficult subject.

That is the subordinate clause in Dutch.

You may think: OEF! This video is a bit long!

But I can assure you

that it's worth watching the entire video if you want to learn

about the structure of the subordinate clause in Dutch.

In English we refer to "bijzinnen" as subordinate clauses.

This means that a subordinate clause belongs to

- or is part of - a main sentence.

So a subordinate clause can never be used on its own.

I already made a video about hoofdzinnen (main sentences) last year.

About the structure of main sentences.

So, you can watch it if you haven't seen it,

there will be a pop-up appearing here with the link.

There are different types of sub clauses

and in this video I will only be speaking about sub clauses

introduced by a conjunction word.

And I'm only going to give three conjunction words as an example in this video

because it's more about the structure of sub clauses

and not yet about the meaning of conjunction words.

Because there are many conjunction words

and I will also discuss those in later videos.

The conjunction words that I give as an example in this video

are: omdat (because), als (if/when) and toen (when in the past).

I put a call out last month

here on YouTube in a post and also on Facebook,

and I asked you if you have or had a question for me

which I could answer with: omdat, als or toen.

I have chosen six of your questions

and later in the video you can see

what the answers are to the questions you've asked me.

But first briefly about the structure.

As I said, a subordinate clause depends on a main sentence.

A main sentence is a sentence that can exist all by itself.

A subordinate clause belongs to a main sentence.

Okay, maybe you remember the rules that apply to the main sentence.

Namely: that the finite verb always occupies the second place

and that the subject is always next to the finite verb.

In the first spot or in the third spot of the sentence

but they are always together: the verb and the subject.

Maybe you also remember that sometimes

there is a time in the first spot of the sentence,

or a place, or an adverbium ...

And then you have inversion.

So the finite verb is still in the second spot

and then the subject always occupies the third spot.

Okay, and the last thing that was very important for a main sentence

is that all other verbs move to the end of the sentence.

Now the most important rule of the sub clause is

the exact opposite of the main rule of the main sentence,

namely that the finite verb goes to the end of the sentence.

Yes, so this is actually the most important rule for the subordinate clause.

And then you might think: oh, that sounds easy!

That's true!

So, if there is more than one verb in the sentence

then the finite verb is next to the other verb

or the other verbs.

Like I said,

in this video I will be discussing sub clauses that are introduced with a conjunction word.

For sub clauses there are lots of conjunction words!

There are far fewer for main sentences.

The most commonly used conjunction words for main sentences

are: en, maar, dus, of, en want (and, but, so, or, and because).

And almost all others are conjunction words for sub clauses.

The conjunction word "want" and the conjunction word "omdat"

can both be translated with "because".

In order to show the difference between

the structure of a main sentence, introduced with "want"

and the structure of a sub clause, introduced with "omdat"

I'll start with the first answer to one of your questions

and that is a question asked by one of my Patrons, by David Hoard.

Am I saying it right David? Am I saying it right?

And his question was: "did you ever go to the US? And if so: why?"

My answer is, if will answer with "want":

"Ja ik ben naar Amerika gegaan, WANT ik moest een paper presenteren ("Yes I went to the US, because I had to present a paper.")

"Want" connects two main sentences here.

It's kind of a glue.

Main sentence, main sentence: the glue in between.

Now I am going to answer this question with "omdat":

"Ja ik ben naar Amerika gegaan, omdat ik een paper moest presenteren."

So here you can see that the auxiliary verb "moest" is at the end of the sentence

together with "presenteren".

Let's do the following question

where I also answer with "omdat".

That is a question from another Patron, namely from Dan Gavrila

and his question is, "Why do you like Spanish?"

And then I can answer with:

"Ik houd van Spaans, OMDAT ik de taal mooi vind klinken." (I like Spanish, because it sounds beautiful to me.)

So the verbs: the finite verb and the infinitive at the end.

Then the last "why question".

That's a question from a poll I made on YouTube and Facebook.

And yes, students found it interesting to know

why I became a teacher.

"Ik ben docent geworden, OMDAT ik graag nieuwe dingen aan mijn studenten leer." (I became a teacher, BECAUSE I like to teach my students new things.)

Yes in Dutch, if you want to say "I'm teaching new things to students"

then we use "leren".

And "leren" (as in learning) also means "to learn".

So: to learn and to teach, both!

The next question, that is a question which I answer with ALS.

And ALS has two meanings in Dutch: "when" and "if".

Let's start with "when".

"What do you do when you are free?"

"ALS ik vrij ben, kijk ik vaak series op Netflix." (When I am free, I often watch series in Netflix.)

Als ik vrij BEN, KIJK ik vaak series op Netflix.

Hey, do you notice something?

Now the sub clause is in the first spot: "Als ik vrij ben"

and then the verb of the main sentence is placed right after the sub clause.

"Als ik vrij BEN, KIJK ik vaak series" I believe ...

I often watch series in Netflix, yes!

Can you remember what I said in the introduction?

That in main sentences the finite verb is in the second spot

and the first spot of the main sentence can be occupied, as I said, with a time

a place, an adverbium ...

And apparently there can even be a whole sub clause in the first spot of the entire sentence!

So basically you can consider the sub clause + main sentence together as one big main sentence.

OK back to ALS. The answer I gave

that answer with ALS means "when": "When I'm free ..."

The next question with ALS is one from YouTube and Facebook

"What would you do if you win a million?"

And this is a hypothetical question.

So: "what would you do if you would win one million euros?"

Yes, I didn't say a euro, but a million euros, not rupees or something.

"ALS ik een miljoen euro win, maak ik alleen nog video's!" (IF I win a million euros, I would only make videos!)

I hope to win a million euros soon !!

And for the last question: I am going to answer with TOEN.

And TOEN also means "when", but in the past tense.

That question also comes from a Patron of mine, from Marija Josipovic.

I hope I pronounce it correctly, Marija!

And she asked me: "When did you figure out your passion?"

Or: "When did you know what your passion was?"

"Ik wist wat mijn passie was, TOEN ik in Leiden studeerde." (I knew what my passion was, WHEN I studied in Leiden.)

So: imperfectum: the past tense!

These were all the examples. This was a lot of information.

And there will be more videos about sub clauses and conjunction words.

And I will also make a mini course, so that later you will also have

the opportunity to practice with this theory.

So I'm going to make a course for this.

If you also have a question for me

which I can answer with: omdat, als or toen

then ask me that question here in the comments!

My question for you is: "Why do you learn Dutch?"

And okay, I hope to win a million euros soon

so I can invest all my time in making videos for you guys!

But right now I don't have a million yet, unfortunately ...

and I still want to invest all my time in the videos

and the online lessons, and an e-book that I writing, and everything!

So, if you really like my videos

and learn a lot, I have a request for you:

would you perhaps like to make a small contribution

so that I get the opportunity to invest more time in this project.

And that is possible from one dollar a month via Patreon.

That would make my new year even better already!

I hope you have learned a lot.

And if you want to learn more and you are not yet subscribed

do that right now!

Because there are many more videos on its way!

And I hope to see you soon again!