Learn Dutch: Als het meisje het geheim niet verklapt, krijgt ze een cadeau. - If the girl does not reveal the secret, she gets a gift.

This part of the sentence is a subordinate clause because it starts with Als (If). In a subordinate clause, the conjugated verb (verklapt) gets pushed to the very end, and the negation niet is placed just before it.

How would you write 'She does not reveal the secret' as a normal main sentence?

You would write Ze verklapt het geheim niet. In a regular main clause, the verb stays in the second position, and niet moves to the end of the sentence when it negates the whole action. Seeing the two sentences side-by-side shows how the subordinate clause changes the word order!

Why is the second half of the sentence krijgt ze instead of ze krijgt?

The entire 'if' clause counts as the first block of information in the sentence. Because Dutch is a 'verb-second' language, the main verb (krijgt) must take the second spot. This pushes the subject (ze) to the other side of the verb, which is called inversion.

Why is it het meisje and not de meisje?

The word meisje ends in -je, which means it is a diminutive (a word for a smaller version of something). In Dutch, all diminutive words automatically use the neutral article het, even when referring to a person.