Questions & Answers about Het is moeilijk, maar we weigeren te falen.
Why do we use te before falen in this sentence?
The verb weigeren (to refuse) requires te plus an infinitive to show what action is being refused. It works very similarly to English: "we refuse to fail" translates directly to we weigeren te falen.
Could I use om te falen here instead?
No, you shouldn't use om here. The om ... te structure is mainly used to mean "in order to" (expressing a goal). Here, te falen is just the action attached to the verb weigeren. Certain verbs link directly to te + infinitive without om.
Why doesn't the word order change in the second part of the sentence after maar?
Maar (but) is a coordinating conjunction, which means it joins two independent clauses. It doesn't push the verb to the end of the sentence like subordinating conjunctions (such as omdat or dat) do. The standard subject-verb order (we weigeren) stays exactly the same.
How do I pronounce the ending of moeilijk?
Even though it is spelled with -lijk, this common Dutch suffix is always pronounced like "luk". So, moeilijk sounds like "moo-ee-luk".