Breakdown of Toen de muzikant op het terras wilde spelen, moest hij wachten.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
spelen
to play
op
on
willen
to want
Questions & Answers about Toen de muzikant op het terras wilde spelen, moest hij wachten.
Could we use a posture verb here, like staan te wachten instead of just wachten?
Yes! If you want to emphasize that he was actively standing around waiting, you could say moest hij staan te wachten. The sentence uses just wachten, which simply states the fact that he had to wait without focusing on his posture or making it a continuous action.
Why does the first clause end with two verbs (wilde spelen)?
The word toen (when) is a subordinating conjunction. It introduces a subclause, which means it pushes all the verbs to the very end of that clause.
Why does the second part start with the verb (moest hij wachten)?
This happens because of the verb-second (V2) rule. The entire first clause (Toen de muzikant op het terras wilde spelen) acts as the first block of information. The main verb of the next clause (moest) has to come immediately after it to take the second position.
Could I use wanneer instead of toen for "when"?
No, because this refers to a single, specific event in the past. In Dutch, you must use toen for a one-time past event. You only use wanneer for questions, or for repeated events meaning "whenever".