Word
Hij begint te twijfelen.
Meaning
He begins to doubt.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Hij begint te twijfelen.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
beginnen
to begin
te
to (infinitive marker)
twijfelen
to doubt / to hesitate
Questions & Answers about Hij begint te twijfelen.
Why do we need the word te before twijfelen?
The verb beginnen (to begin) requires te when it links to another verb. This works a lot like English: just as you say 'He begins to doubt', Dutch uses te plus the whole verb (the infinitive) twijfelen.
Does te always mean 'to' before a verb?
In this specific grammar structure, yes! You will also see te linking verbs after proberen (to try) and vergeten (to forget). Just remember that te has another common meaning: it means 'too' when placed before an adjective, like te groot (too big).
What if I want to add more words, like 'He begins to doubt today'? Where do they go?
The te twijfelen part gets pushed to the very end of the sentence. Other information, like a time word, comes in the middle. So you would say: Hij begint vandaag te twijfelen.
Why is it begint and not the full verb beginnen?
Because it is the main, active verb of the sentence connected to hij (he). To make the present tense for 'he', 'she', or 'it', you take the stem of the verb (begin) and add a -t.