Breakdown of Ik snijd de uien totdat ik huil.
ik
I
huilen
to cry
snijden
to cut
de ui
the onion
totdat
until (conjunction)
Questions & Answers about Ik snijd de uien totdat ik huil.
Since totdat is supposed to send the verb to the end of the sentence, why is the word order just subject then verb (ik huil)?
Totdat does send the verb to the end, but because the clause ik huil only has two words, the verb is already at the end! If you added an extra word like hard (loudly), you would easily see the verb get pushed to the back: totdat ik hard huil.
Can I use tot instead of totdat here?
You might hear native speakers do this in casual speech, but it is better to use totdat here. Totdat is a conjunction used to introduce a new clause with its own subject and verb. Tot is usually used as a preposition before a time or place, like tot morgen (until tomorrow) or tot straks (see you later).
Why does snijd end in -d and not -dt?
Because the subject is ik (I). We only add a -t to verb stems ending in -d when the subject is jij, hij, zij, or het (for example: hij snijdt). For ik, we just use the plain stem of snijden, which is snijd.
What is the singular form of uien?
The singular is ui (onion). To make it plural, you just add -en to get uien. It looks a bit strange because it is a word packed with vowels, but it follows the normal Dutch plural rules.
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