Breakdown of Ik begrijp niet waarom jij die appels weggooit.
ik
I
jij
you
niet
not
de appel
the apple
begrijpen
to understand
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
waarom
why
weggooien
to throw away
Questions & Answers about Ik begrijp niet waarom jij die appels weggooit.
Why is weggooit written as one word at the very end of the sentence?
Weggooien (to throw away) is a separable verb. In a normal main sentence, it splits up, as in jij gooit die appels weg. However, this sentence part is a subordinate clause introduced by waarom (why). In subordinate clauses, all verbs are pushed to the end. When a separable verb is pushed to the end, its prefix (weg-) and the verb (gooit) reattach to form a single word: weggooit.
Why doesn't the verb come right after jij like it usually would?
Because the word waarom (why) introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch subordinate clauses, the verb gets kicked all the way to the end of the sentence. That is why we say waarom jij die appels weggooit instead of keeping the normal word order.
Could I use je instead of jij in this sentence?
Yes, you absolutely can. Je is the standard, unstressed word for 'you'. Using jij here just adds extra emphasis to the person doing the action, as if saying: 'I do not understand why YOU (of all people) are throwing those apples away.'
Why do we use die appels instead of dat appels for 'those apples'?
Appels is a plural noun. In Dutch, all plural nouns use de as their word for 'the'. Because it acts like a de word, you must use die to say 'those' or 'these'. You only use dat for singular nouns that take het.
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