Breakdown of Ik moet veel lezen om Nederlands te leren.
ik
I
veel
much / many / a lot of
lezen
to read
leren
to learn
Questions & Answers about Ik moet veel lezen om Nederlands te leren.
Why do we use om ... te here instead of just translating 'to' as te?
In Dutch, when you want to express the purpose or goal of an action (meaning "in order to"), you use the om ... te structure. Here, the purpose of reading a lot is "in order to learn Dutch".
Why does Nederlands come between om and te leren?
In an om ... te clause, all the extra information (like the object Nederlands) is sandwiched between om and te. The formula is always: om + [other words] + te + [infinitive verb]. So, "to learn Dutch" becomes om Nederlands te leren.
Why is lezen placed right before om?
The first part of the sentence uses the modal verb moet (must). The rule for modal verbs is that the second verb (lezen) gets pushed to the end of its own clause. Since the om ... te phrase starts a brand new clause, lezen goes right at the boundary before the second part begins.
In English we just say "to learn". Can I drop om and just say Ik moet veel lezen Nederlands te leren?