Breakdown of Ik moet naar de tandarts die in het centrum werkt.
ik
I
werken
to work
in
in
naar
to
moeten
to have to, must
het centrum
the center
die
who / that (relative pronoun)
de tandarts
the dentist
Questions & Answers about Ik moet naar de tandarts die in het centrum werkt.
Why use die for "who" here instead of wie?
Even though we are talking about a person, relative clauses use die or dat to say "who" or "that". Because it is de tandarts, we use die (which is used for all de-words and plurals). You generally only use wie in a relative clause if it comes right after a preposition, like de tandarts naar wie ik ga (the dentist to whom I go).
Why is werkt at the very end of the sentence?
The part of the sentence starting with die is a relative clause, meaning it provides extra information about a noun (the dentist). Relative clauses use "verb-final" word order in Dutch. This means the conjugated verb (werkt) is pushed all the way to the end of that clause.
The translation says "go to", but where is the Dutch verb for "go" (gaan)?
In Dutch, when you combine a modal verb like moeten (must / to have to) with a direction word like naar (to), you usually drop the verb gaan (to go). Ik moet naar de tandarts literally means "I must to the dentist," which is the most natural way to say this in Dutch.
How is the word tandarts formed?
Dutch loves compound words! Tandarts is made up of tand (tooth) and arts (doctor or physician). You will see arts at the end of many medical professions, such as dierenarts (animal doctor / vet) or huisarts (house doctor / general practitioner).
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