Word
Het huis waarvoor zij veel geld bieden, is oud.
Meaning
The house they are bidding a lot of money for is old.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Het huis waarvoor zij veel geld bieden, is oud.
Why do we use waarvoor here instead of voor dat?
When referring back to an inanimate object like het huis with a preposition like voor, Dutch combines waar and the preposition into one word: waarvoor. This acts just like "for which" in English. You cannot say voor dat or voor het when referring back to things in relative clauses.
Why is the verb bieden at the end of the first clause?
The phrase waarvoor zij veel geld bieden is a relative clause, which is a type of sub-clause that describes the house. In Dutch, all sub-clauses push their working verb to the very end of that specific clause.
How do we know zij means "they" and not "she" in this sentence?
We can tell by looking at the verb bieden. It is in the plural form, matching "they". If zij meant "she", the verb would be conjugated in the singular form as biedt.
Why does the verb is come right after the comma?
The core of the main sentence is simply Het huis is oud. The entire relative clause describing the house is inserted right after Het huis. Once that descriptive clause finishes at the comma, the main sentence picks right back up with its verb, is.