Three little words let you turn short sentences into longer, more natural ones from your very first days of Dutch: en (and), maar (but), and of (or). The good news for English speakers is that these three behave almost exactly like their English counterparts — they sit between two complete sentences and leave the word order of both sentences completely alone. There is nothing to rearrange. If you can say two short Dutch sentences, you can glue them together with en, maar, or of and the result is correct. This page drills that habit until it is automatic, and warns you about the one trap that catches English speakers.
The core idea: the verb does not move
A Dutch main clause keeps its conjugated verb in second position — this is the verb-second (V2) rule that governs every ordinary statement (see Verb-Second in Main Clauses). The whole point of en, maar, and of is that they are coordinating conjunctions: they connect two equal partners and do not count as a part of either clause. So the second clause behaves as if it were standing on its own — subject first, verb second, exactly as before.
Ik woon in Amsterdam en ik werk in Utrecht.
I live in Amsterdam and I work in Utrecht. Both halves keep subject + verb: 'ik woon...' and 'ik werk...'.
Ze is moe maar ze is gelukkig.
She's tired but she's happy. After 'maar', the verb 'is' stays in second position.
Wil je thee of wil je koffie?
Do you want tea or do you want coffee? After 'of', 'wil' stays right where it was.
En — "and"
En simply adds one thing to another. The clause after it keeps normal word order.
Ik maak het eten en jij doet de afwas.
I'll make the food and you'll do the dishes. 'jij doet...' keeps subject + verb.
Hij belt zijn moeder en daarna gaat hij slapen.
He calls his mother and then he goes to sleep. Careful — here the second half starts with 'daarna', so the verb comes before the subject inside that half (that's the V2 rule of that clause, not an effect of 'en').
That second example is worth a pause. En itself still does nothing. But the second clause happens to begin with the time word daarna ("then"), and because a Dutch clause keeps its verb in second position, daarna pushes the subject behind the verb: daarna gaat hij. The inversion belongs to the clause's own V2 rule, not to en. When the second clause simply starts with its subject, you get plain en ik..., en hij..., en jij... with no inversion at all.
Maar — "but"
Maar signals a contrast. Like en, it leaves both clauses untouched.
Ik wil graag komen, maar ik heb geen tijd.
I'd love to come, but I don't have time. 'ik heb...' keeps its normal order.
Het is koud, maar de zon schijnt.
It's cold, but the sun is shining. 'de zon schijnt' — subject then verb, unchanged.
A comma before maar is normal and recommended when it joins two full clauses, though Dutch is not strict about it in short sentences.
Of — "or"
Of offers a choice between two options. As a coordinating "or", it again changes nothing.
We gaan naar de film of we blijven thuis.
We'll go to the movie or we'll stay home. 'we blijven thuis' keeps subject + verb.
Neem je de trein of ga je met de auto?
Are you taking the train or are you going by car? Both halves keep their own V2 order.
Joining more than just full sentences
En, maar, and of don't only connect whole clauses — they connect any two matching pieces: two nouns, two verbs, two adjectives. This is exactly like English, so it feels natural.
Ik drink koffie en thee.
I drink coffee and tea. Joining two nouns — no clause, no verb to worry about.
Het is klein maar gezellig.
It's small but cosy. Joining two adjectives.
Wil je water of sap?
Do you want water or juice? Joining two nouns.
When you join two short pieces like this, there is no second verb at all, so there is nothing that could move. The word-order question only arises when each side is a full clause with its own verb — and even then, as you've seen, the answer is "nothing moves".
A note on commas
English speakers tend to either over- or under-use commas here. The simple guideline for A1:
- Before maar joining two clauses: a comma is normal — Ik wil komen, maar ik kan niet.
- Before en joining two clauses: usually no comma — Ik kom en ik blijf eten.
- Before of joining two clauses: usually no comma — Bel je me of stuur je een appje?
These are conventions, not laws; a missing or extra comma never changes the grammar. The verb position is what matters, and that never changes with these three words.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ik woon in Amsterdam en werk ik in Utrecht.
Incorrect — 'en' does not cause inversion. Don't flip the subject and verb after 'en' when the clause simply starts with its subject.
✅ Ik woon in Amsterdam en ik werk in Utrecht.
I live in Amsterdam and I work in Utrecht.
❌ Ze is moe, maar is gelukkig.
Incorrect — don't drop the subject of the second clause. 'maar' joins two full clauses, so the second one still needs its own subject 'ze'.
✅ Ze is moe, maar ze is gelukkig.
She's tired but she's happy.
❌ Ik wil komen maar ik geen tijd heb.
Incorrect — this sends the verb to the end as if 'maar' were subordinating. It isn't; the verb stays in second position: 'ik heb geen tijd'.
✅ Ik wil komen, maar ik heb geen tijd.
I'd love to come, but I don't have time.
❌ We blijven thuis of we naar de film gaan.
Incorrect — coordinating 'of' (or) keeps normal word order: 'we gaan naar de film', not verb-final.
✅ We blijven thuis of we gaan naar de film.
We'll stay home or we'll go to the movie.
❌ Hij belt en gaat hij slapen.
Incorrect — when the second clause starts with its own subject 'hij', there's no inversion. Inversion would only happen if a word like 'daarna' came first.
✅ Hij belt en hij gaat slapen.
He calls and he goes to sleep.
Key Takeaways
- En (and), maar (but), and of (or) are coordinating conjunctions: they sit between two equal parts and never change word order.
- Each joined clause keeps its conjugated verb in second position, just as it would on its own.
- They also join smaller pieces — two nouns, verbs, or adjectives — exactly like English.
- The only "movement" you'll ever see is when the second clause itself begins with a word like daarna; that inversion is the clause's own V2 rule, not the work of en/maar/of.
- Don't confuse coordinating of ("or", verb stays second) with subordinating of ("whether", verb goes to the end).
Now practice Dutch
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Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- Coordinating Conjunctions: En, Maar, Of, Want, DusA2 — The five Dutch coordinating conjunctions that join equal clauses without ever moving the verb — and why want and dus are the tricky ones.
- Dutch Conjunctions: OverviewA2 — The three families of Dutch joining words — coordinating, subordinating, and conjunctional adverbs — and the word-order effect each one has on its clause.
- Using Omdat and Dat: Because and ThatA2 — How the subordinating conjunctions omdat (because) and dat (that) send the verb to the end of their clause — and why want behaves completely differently.
- Verb-Second (V2) in Main ClausesA1 — The backbone of Dutch main clauses — the finite verb sits in the second position, where 'position' means the second constituent, not the second word.
- Verb-Final Order in Subordinate ClausesA2 — After a subordinating conjunction, relative pronoun, or question word, the entire verb cluster — including the finite verb — moves to the end of the clause.