Breakdown of Ik zal het gebouw schoonmaken, ik beloof het.
ik
I
het
it
zullen
shall / will
schoonmaken
to clean
het gebouw
the building
beloven
to promise
Questions & Answers about Ik zal het gebouw schoonmaken, ik beloof het.
Why is schoonmaken at the end of the first part of the sentence?
Because this sentence uses zal (will) to form the future tense. In Dutch, when you use a helper verb like zullen, it takes the second position in the sentence, and the main action verb (schoonmaken) gets pushed to the very end of the clause in its full infinitive form.
I remember that schoonmaken is a separable verb. Why isn't it split up here?
You are right, it is a separable verb! But separable verbs only split when they are the main conjugated verb in the sentence. Here, zal is the conjugated verb doing the grammatical work, so schoonmaken is forced to the end as a full infinitive and stays glued together.
Why is there a het in ik beloof het when the English translation is just "I promise"?
In Dutch, verbs like beloven (to promise) usually need a direct object. The het (it) acts as a placeholder that refers back to the entire first half of the sentence. Literally, you are saying "I promise it" (the act of cleaning the building).
Why is it ik zal? How does zullen conjugate for other singular subjects?
The verb zullen is irregular. For ik, hij, zij (she), and het, the form is just zal without an added 't' at the end. For jij (you), both zal and zult are correct and commonly used.
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