Breakdown of We zullen de politie waarschuwen als we gevaar zien.
zien
to see
zullen
shall / will
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
als
if / when (condition)
het gevaar
the danger
waarschuwen
to warn
de politie
the police
Questions & Answers about We zullen de politie waarschuwen als we gevaar zien.
Why is zien at the very end of the sentence?
This is because of the word als (if). Als is a subordinating conjunction, which means it introduces a dependent clause and pushes the conjugated verb (zien) to the very end of that clause.
Why is waarschuwen placed right before als, instead of next to zullen?
In the first part of the sentence (We zullen de politie waarschuwen), zullen is the conjugated helper verb in the standard second position. In Dutch, helper verbs push the main action verb (the infinitive waarschuwen) to the end of its clause.
Can als mean "when" in this sentence instead of "if"?
Yes! In Dutch, als can mean both "if" and "when" for present and future events. Depending on the context, this sentence could absolutely mean "We will warn the police when we see danger."
Could you just use the present tense here instead of zullen?
Yes, you can. Dutch often uses the present tense to talk about the future, so We waarschuwen de politie als we gevaar zien is perfectly correct. Using zullen just makes it sound more like a firm promise or strong intention ("We will warn...").
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