Word
Als er gevaar is, waarschuwen we de politie.
Meaning
If there is danger, we warn the police.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Als er gevaar is, waarschuwen we de politie.
zijn
to be
er
there (existential)
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
als
if / when (condition)
Questions & Answers about Als er gevaar is, waarschuwen we de politie.
Why is the verb is at the very end of the first part?
Because als (if/when) introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch, these types of connecting words push the conjugated verb to the very end of their clause. That is why we say Als er gevaar is (If there danger is) instead of putting is right after er.
Why does the second half say waarschuwen we instead of we waarschuwen?
This is due to the verb-second rule. The entire first clause (Als er gevaar is) counts as the first block of information in the main sentence. Therefore, the main verb (waarschuwen) must immediately follow in the second position, which pushes the subject (we) to the other side of the verb.
What is the role of er in this sentence?
In this sentence, er works together with is to mean 'there is'. Just like in English, it acts as a dummy subject when introducing the existence of something (in this case, danger).
Does als mean 'if' or 'when' here?
It can mean both! The Dutch word als translates to both 'if' and 'when'. Context usually tells you which one makes more sense, but grammatically, both translations are completely correct for this sentence.