Breakdown of In de winkel blijf je altijd beleefd.
in
in
altijd
always
de winkel
the shop
blijven
to stay
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
beleefd
polite
Questions & Answers about In de winkel blijf je altijd beleefd.
Does je refer to the listener specifically here?
Not exactly. In this sentence, je is used as an indefinite pronoun, meaning it refers to people in general. It works just like the general 'you' in English (as in 'you should always be polite'). It is much more natural in daily Dutch than the formal word men (one).
Why are the verb and subject swapped around as blijf je?
Because the sentence starts with the location In de winkel. In Dutch, whenever a sentence starts with something other than the subject, the verb must stay in the second position, which pushes the subject to the third position. This is called inversion.
Wait, doesn't the verb usually get a -t when used with je?
Yes, when je comes first, you say je blijft. However, there is a special spelling rule in Dutch: whenever je or jij comes directly after the verb, the -t is dropped. That is why it is just blijf je here.
Does the verb blijven mean 'to remain' or 'to stay'?
It means both! In this sentence, it translates best as 'remain' (remain polite), but you use the exact same verb to talk about staying in a physical location, like ik blijf hier (I am staying here).
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