Breakdown of Doordat twee auto's botsen, is de weg dicht.
zijn
to be
de auto
the car
twee
two
dicht
closed
de weg
the road
doordat
because of the fact that / because (cause)
botsen
to collide / to crash
Questions & Answers about Doordat twee auto's botsen, is de weg dicht.
Why is it is de weg instead of de weg is?
The sentence starts with a subordinate clause (Doordat twee auto's botsen). In Dutch, when you put a subordinate clause before the main clause, the main clause must use inversion. This means the verb (is) comes before the subject (de weg). You can think of the whole first clause as taking up the first position in the sentence, so the verb must come second!
Why is the verb botsen at the very end of the first part?
The word doordat introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch subordinate clauses, the working verb is always pushed to the end. That is why the verb botsen (collide) comes after the subject twee auto's.
What is the difference between doordat and omdat?
Both mean "because", but doordat is used for a direct, physical cause and effect (like an accident causing a road closure). Omdat is used for reasons or choices made by people. In everyday spoken Dutch, however, you will often hear people just use omdat for everything.
Why does auto's have an apostrophe?
In Dutch, nouns that end in a single open vowel (like a, i, o, u, or y) get an apostrophe plus s for their plural form. This apostrophe keeps the vowel sounding "long". Without it, autos would look like it should be pronounced with a short "o".
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