Breakdown of Hij zal het licht in de kamer uitdoen.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
in
in
de kamer
the room
zullen
shall / will
Questions & Answers about Hij zal het licht in de kamer uitdoen.
Why is uitdoen written as one word here? Aren't separable verbs usually split up?
Normally, yes! If there were no other verbs in the sentence, it would split: Hij doet het licht uit. However, because this sentence uses the future helper verb zal, the main action gets pushed to the end of the sentence. When a separable verb acts as an infinitive at the end of a sentence like this, its two parts stay glued together as uitdoen.
Why is uitdoen placed all the way at the end, after in de kamer?
This is the classic Dutch "verb sandwich." The helper verb zal takes the second position in the sentence, but the main verb (uitdoen) has to wait until the very end. All the extra details—like what is being turned off (het licht) and where (in de kamer)—get sandwiched between the two verbs.
Wait, I thought regular present tense verbs with hij (he) get a -t added. Why is it just zal?
Zullen (will/shall) is an irregular modal verb. For the singular subjects ik, jij, hij, zij, and het, the correct form is just zal. It doesn't follow the normal rule of adding a -t for "he" or "she".
I learned that doen means to do. Why is it used here for a light?