Questions & Answers about Ik eet vaak een appel om gezond te blijven.
How does om ... te work in this sentence?
It translates to 'in order to' or simply 'to' when expressing a goal. You use it to explain the purpose of your action: you eat the apple in order to stay healthy.
Why is the word gezond placed between om and te blijven?
In an om ... te clause, om always starts the phrase, and te plus the full infinitive verb (here, blijven) always goes at the very end. Any other words belonging to that goal, such as the adjective gezond (healthy), are sandwiched in the middle.
Why does vaak come before een appel?
In Dutch, adverbs of frequency like vaak (often) usually go as close to the main verb as possible. Therefore, vaak comes right after the verb eet and before the object een appel.
Could I use voor instead of om to say 'for staying healthy'?
No. When you want to express a purpose using a verb, you must use the om ... te construction. You cannot translate the English 'for' plus an '-ing' verb directly into Dutch using voor.