Word
Toen de jongens met hun studie begonnen, kregen zij een relatie.
Meaning
When the boys started their studies, they got into a relationship.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Toen de jongens met hun studie begonnen, kregen zij een relatie.
een
a/an
de jongen
the boy
zij
they
met
with
Questions & Answers about Toen de jongens met hun studie begonnen, kregen zij een relatie.
Why is the verb begonnen at the very end of the first part before the comma?
The word Toen (when) is a subordinating conjunction. This means it introduces a dependent clause and pushes its verb, begonnen, all the way to the end of that clause.
Why does the second half of the sentence say kregen zij instead of zij kregen?
This happens because of the verb-second (V2) rule. The entire first clause (Toen de jongens met hun studie begonnen) counts as the first piece of information in the sentence. Therefore, the main verb of the next part (kregen) must come immediately after the comma to take the second position, pushing the subject (zij) after it.
The translation says "studies", but the Dutch sentence uses the singular word studie. Why?
In Dutch, it is much more natural to use the singular studie when talking about a university degree or academic program. If you used the plural here, it would sound like each boy was starting several different degrees at the same time.
Does kregen zij een relatie literally mean "they got a relationship"?
Yes, exactly! While in English you usually say "got into a relationship", in Dutch you simply use the verb krijgen (to get), which becomes kregen in the plural past tense.