Breakdown of Toen haar lange carrière eindigde, ging zij met pensioen.
zij
she
met
with
gaan
to go / to go off (of an alarm)
haar
her
eindigen
to end
lang
long
toen
when / then (in the past)
de carrière
the career
het pensioen
the retirement
Questions & Answers about Toen haar lange carrière eindigde, ging zij met pensioen.
Why does the verb eindigde come at the very end of the first clause?
The word toen ('when') is a subordinating conjunction. This means it connects a dependent clause to the main sentence and pushes the conjugated verb in that dependent clause (eindigde) to the very end.
Why is the word order ging zij instead of zij ging after the comma?
In a Dutch main clause, the verb must always sit in the second position. The entire first clause (Toen haar lange carrière eindigde) acts as position number one. Therefore, the verb ging must take position number two, immediately followed by the subject zij.
When should I use toen for 'when' instead of wanneer?
You must use toen when talking about a specific single event or a specific period in the past, like a career ending. You use wanneer for 'when' in the present or future tense, or for things that happened repeatedly in the past (meaning 'whenever').
How exactly does this sentence say 'she retired'?
The Dutch expression for 'to retire' is met pensioen gaan (literally 'to go with pension'). Because this sentence is in the past tense, the verb gaan becomes ging.
Why does the adjective lang have an extra -e attached to it here?
Because carrière is a 'de' word (de carrière). When an adjective comes before a 'de' noun, it almost always gets an -e added to the end, even when it follows a possessive word like haar.
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