Breakdown of Met het internet kunt u het bestand hierop downloaden.
u
you (formal)
hier
here
met
with
op
on
kunnen
can
het bestand
the file
downloaden
to download
het internet
the internet
Questions & Answers about Met het internet kunt u het bestand hierop downloaden.
How does hierop translate to 'onto this'?
In Dutch, you generally do not say op dit for 'on this' or 'onto this' when talking about things. Instead, you combine hier (here) with the preposition op (on/onto) to create the pronominal adverb hierop. You can think of it literally as 'hereon'.
Why is it kunt u instead of u kunt?
Because the sentence starts with the phrase Met het internet, it triggers the 'verb second' rule. The main conjugated verb (kunt) must take the second position in the sentence, so the subject (u) swaps places with it and comes right after.
Why is the word downloaden all the way at the end of the sentence?
Because this sentence uses the modal verb kunt (can) in the second position. In Dutch, a modal verb always pushes the main action verb (in this case, downloaden) to the very end of the sentence in its full infinitive form.
Is downloaden really a Dutch word?
It is a loanword from English, but it is treated as a fully Dutch verb! That is why it receives the standard Dutch infinitive ending -en. You will see this happen often with modern tech vocabulary.
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