Word
Als je de spijker in de muur ziet, sla je erop.
Meaning
If you see the nail in the wall, you hit it.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Als je de spijker in de muur ziet, sla je erop.
zien
to see
in
in
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
als
if / when (condition)
Questions & Answers about Als je de spijker in de muur ziet, sla je erop.
Why does the sentence end with erop instead of translating 'hit it' as sla het?
In Dutch, the verb slaan (to hit) is often paired with the preposition op (on) when aiming at a target. When you want to say 'on it' referring to an inanimate object like the nail (de spijker), you cannot use op het. Instead, Dutch uses er and fuses it with the preposition, turning it into erop.
Why is the second half of the sentence sla je instead of je slaat?
Why is the verb ziet (see) placed at the very end of the first clause?
The word Als (if/when) introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch, conjunctions that start these dependent clauses, such as als, omdat (because), and dat (that), push the verb to the very end of their section.