Breakdown of Ik geloof dat hij de waarheid vertelt.
ik
I
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
vertellen
to tell
geloven
to believe
de waarheid
the truth
dat
that (conjunction)
Questions & Answers about Ik geloof dat hij de waarheid vertelt.
Why is vertelt at the very end of the sentence?
This happens because of the word dat (that). It introduces a sub-clause (a dependent part of the sentence). In Dutch, sub-clauses push the conjugated verb, in this case vertelt, all the way to the end of the sentence.
Can I leave out the word dat, like we often drop 'that' in English?
No, you cannot drop it in Dutch. While in English you can say 'I believe he is telling the truth' without the word 'that', in Dutch you must always include dat to connect the main sentence to the sub-clause.
The English translation says 'is telling', but the Dutch is just vertelt. Why isn't it something like 'is vertellen'?
Dutch doesn't use an 'is doing' (continuous) form as often or in the exact same way English does. The simple present tense vertelt translates perfectly to both 'tells' and 'is telling' depending on the context of the sentence.
If I add more words to the second part of the sentence, where do they go?
They get sandwiched between the subject (hij) and the verb (vertelt). Because of the word dat, the conjugated verb must always be the very last word. For example, adding vandaag (today) makes it: Ik geloof dat hij vandaag de waarheid vertelt.
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