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Een astronaut valt niet naar beneden.

Een astronaut valt niet naar beneden.
An astronaut does not fall down.
From Lesson 133:Placement of the negator (niet)·Dutch

Questions & Answers about Een astronaut valt niet naar beneden.

Why is niet placed between the verb and naar beneden?
In Dutch main clauses, niet usually comes after the finite verb (valt). When a sentence has a prepositional phrase showing direction, like naar beneden (downwards), niet is placed right before it.
Why does "down" translate to two words, naar beneden?
In Dutch, expressing movement to a place often requires the preposition naar (to/towards). The word beneden means "below" or "downstairs." So, naar beneden literally translates as "towards below," which is the standard way to say "down" when motion is involved.
Could I put niet at the very end of this sentence?
No, placing it at the very end (Een astronaut valt naar beneden niet) is incorrect. In Dutch, niet strongly prefers to sit before directional phrases like naar beneden rather than after them.
Why couldn't we use geen instead of niet here?
The word geen is used to negate nouns (meaning "not a" or "no"). For example, Geen astronaut valt would mean "No astronaut falls." Here we are negating the action of falling down itself, so we must use the adverb niet.

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