Breakdown of Het is jammer dat we geen tijd hebben.
zijn
to be
hebben
to have
de tijd
the time
geen
no / not any
Questions & Answers about Het is jammer dat we geen tijd hebben.
Why is hebben at the very end of the sentence?
The word dat (that) introduces a dependent clause. In Dutch, dependent clauses use verb-final word order. This means the working verb (hebben) gets pushed to the very end of its clause.
Why does this sentence use geen instead of niet to say 'no time'?
The English translation says 'a pity', but the Dutch just says jammer. Why is there no word for 'a'?
In English, 'pity' is a noun, so we say 'a pity'. In Dutch, jammer is actually an adjective meaning 'unfortunate' or 'regrettable'. You never put een (a) in front of jammer because it acts like an adjective, not a noun.