Breakdown of Hun relatie was geweldig toen zij trouwden.
zijn
to be
zij
they
hun
their
geweldig
great
toen
when / then (in the past)
trouwen
to marry
de relatie
the relationship
Questions & Answers about Hun relatie was geweldig toen zij trouwden.
Why do we use toen for "when" here instead of wanneer?
Toen is used specifically for a single event or a specific period in the past. Because getting married happened in the past, you must use toen. If you were talking about the present, future, or a recurring event in the past ("Whenever they married"), you would use wanneer.
Why does the verb trouwden go at the very end of the sentence?
The word toen is a subordinating conjunction, which means it introduces a dependent clause and pushes the verb to the end of that clause. In the main clause (Hun relatie was geweldig), the verb is in the normal second position. But in the toen clause, the verb trouwden gets pushed after the subject zij.
Is the word hun at the beginning related to the subject zij later on?
They are related in meaning, but they play different grammatical roles! Hun is the possessive pronoun meaning "their" (hun relatie = their relationship). Zij is the subject pronoun meaning "they". A common mistake is trying to use hun as a subject, but in this sentence, both words are used perfectly.
How do we get the past tense form trouwden?
It comes from the infinitive trouwen (to marry). The stem is trouw. Because the final letter 'w' is not in the memory aid 't kofschip (the list of voiceless consonants), we add -de for the past tense. Since the subject zij (they) is plural, we add an extra -n, making it trouwden.
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