Breakdown of Je moet het bericht meteen doorgeven.
moeten
to have to, must
het bericht
the message
meteen
immediately
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
doorgeven
to pass on
Questions & Answers about Je moet het bericht meteen doorgeven.
Why is the separable verb doorgeven written as one word here? I thought separable verbs split up.
You are right that separable verbs usually split! However, this sentence uses the modal verb moet (must). When a modal verb is the main conjugated verb, it pushes the other verb to the very end of the sentence as a full infinitive. When a separable verb sits at the end like this, its parts stay glued together.
What are the two parts of doorgeven and what do they mean literally?
It is made of door (through) and geven (to give). Literally meaning to give through, it is the standard Dutch way to say to pass on or to forward something, like a message.
Why does meteen come before doorgeven?
In Dutch, the second verb (here, the infinitive doorgeven) is kicked to the very end of the sentence. All other details, including adverbs of time like meteen (immediately), have to come before it.
If I wanted to emphasize immediately and start the sentence with meteen, how would the word order change?
If you put meteen at the front, the conjugated verb must be in the second position. You would swap the subject and the modal verb: Meteen moet je het bericht doorgeven. The separable verb doorgeven remains as one word at the very end.
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