Breakdown of Wij zitten in de spits nooit comfortabel in de metro.
wij
we
in
in
zitten
to sit
nooit
never
de spits
the rush hour
comfortabel
comfortable / comfortably
de metro
the subway
Questions & Answers about Wij zitten in de spits nooit comfortabel in de metro.
Why is the order in de spits... in de metro instead of the English order?
Dutch uses a specific order for extra information in the middle of a sentence: Time, then Manner, then Place (the TMP rule). in de spits (during rush hour) tells us when, so it must come before in de metro, which tells us where.
How does comfortabel fit into this word order?
comfortabel describes how you sit, which is the Manner. Following the Time-Manner-Place rule, it goes exactly in the middle: after the Time (in de spits nooit) and before the Place (in de metro).
There are two "time" concepts here: in de spits and nooit. Which one goes first?
Both belong to the Time category. In Dutch, a prepositional phrase like in de spits often comes before a short frequency word like nooit. However, flipping them to nooit in de spits is also correct and just slightly shifts the emphasis.
What does de spits literally mean?
Literally, de spits means "the point" or "the peak". In the context of travel and traffic, it is the standard Dutch term for "rush hour" or "peak hour".
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