Breakdown of Niemand vlucht als de brand klein is.
zijn
to be
klein
small
niemand
no one
als
if / when (condition)
Questions & Answers about Niemand vlucht als de brand klein is.
Why is the verb is at the very end of the sentence?
The word als (if/when) is a subordinating conjunction. That means it starts a dependent clause (als de brand klein is). In Dutch dependent clauses, all verbs are pushed to the very end.
Could als also be translated as 'when' in this sentence?
Yes! In Dutch, als can mean both 'if' and 'when'. Usually, the context tells you which one makes more sense, but here 'Nobody flees when the fire is small' works perfectly well too.
The subject is Niemand (nobody). Does that always take a singular verb like vlucht?
Exactly. Just like in English, words like niemand (nobody/no one) and iemand (somebody/someone) are treated as grammatically singular in Dutch, so you use the singular form of the verb.
The infinitive is vluchten (to flee). Why isn't the conjugated form here vluchtt with an extra 't' at the end?
To make the he/she/it form, you usually take the stem of the verb and add a -t. The stem of vluchten is vlucht. Since it already ends in a 't', Dutch spelling rules dictate that we do not double the 't' at the end of a word.