Breakdown of Hij komt soms te laat.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
laat
late
komen
to come
te
too
soms
sometimes
Questions & Answers about Hij komt soms te laat.
In English we say "He is sometimes late". Why does Dutch say he "comes" late?
In Dutch, it is much more common to use the verb komen (to come) instead of zijn (to be) when talking about arriving late to an event, school, or an appointment. So instead of saying someone "is" late, you say they come too late (komt te laat).
The dictionary says the verb is komen, which has a long "o" sound. Why does komt have a short "o" sound?
This vowel change is exactly what makes komen an irregular verb! Normally, Dutch verbs keep their long vowel sound when shortened for singular pronouns (for example, maken becomes maak). But komen breaks this rule, using a short "o" for singular forms like ik kom and hij komt.
Could I say Hij soms komt te laat to match the English word order?
No, that won't work in Dutch. In a normal Dutch sentence, the verb must always be in the second position. Because Hij (He) is in position one, the verb komt must be position two. The word soms (sometimes) has to wait its turn after the verb.
What does the word te do in this sentence?
When you put te directly in front of an adjective like laat (late), it means "too" or "excessively". So te laat translates perfectly to "too late".
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