Breakdown of Waarom wil hij niet dansen?
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
niet
not
willen
to want
waarom
why
dansen
to dance
Questions & Answers about Waarom wil hij niet dansen?
Why is dansen at the very end of the sentence?
In Dutch, when you use a modal verb like wil (wants to), the second verb in the sentence gets pushed to the very end. That second verb is always in its full dictionary form (the infinitive), which is why we use dansen.
Usually verbs with hij (he) end in '-t'. Why is it just wil here?
Willen (to want) is an irregular modal verb. For the third-person singular (hij, zij, het), the standard and most common form is simply wil without the '-t'. You might occasionally see 'wilt', but wil is the standard choice.
Why is the word order wil hij instead of hij wil?
Because this is a question starting with a question word (waarom). In Dutch questions, the main verb switches places with the subject. So, the normal statement hij wil (he wants) becomes waarom wil hij (why does he want) to form the question.
Why does niet come right before dansen?
When you use niet (not) to negate an action in a sentence with a modal verb, it usually goes right before the infinitive verb at the end of the sentence. It tells us exactly what action he is refusing to do.
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