Breakdown of Toen zij afstudeerde, begon haar carrière.
zij
she
beginnen
to begin
haar
her
toen
when / then (in the past)
afstuderen
to graduate
de carrière
the career
Questions & Answers about Toen zij afstudeerde, begon haar carrière.
Why use toen here instead of wanneer for "when"?
In Dutch, toen is used specifically for a single event or a continuous period in the past. Because her graduation happened once in the past, you must use toen.
Why is afstudeerde written as one word at the end of the first clause?
Toen pushes the verb to the end of its clause. The verb afstuderen (to graduate) is a separable verb. In a normal main sentence, it splits into zij studeerde af, but when a rule pushes it to the very end of a clause, the prefix and the verb stick back together as a single word.
Why is the word order begon haar carrière instead of haar carrière begon?
This is the verb-second rule in action. The entire first clause (Toen zij afstudeerde) counts as the first piece of information in the sentence. The main verb begon must take the second position, so it jumps in front of the subject haar carrière.
Why doesn't begon end in -de or -te like a regular past tense verb?
The verb beginnen (to begin) is irregular. Just like in English where "begin" changes to "began", the Dutch verb changes its vowel to become begon for the singular past tense.
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