Breakdown of Daarom hoef je geen kaart te trekken.
geen
no / not any
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
daarom
therefore
trekken
to draw (to pull)
de kaart
the card
hoeven te
to need to (mostly negated)
Questions & Answers about Daarom hoef je geen kaart te trekken.
Why is the verb before the subject here (hoef je instead of je hoeft)?
Because the sentence starts with the adverb Daarom (That is why / Therefore). In Dutch main clauses, the verb must be the second element (the V2 rule). Putting Daarom at the front pushes the subject (je) behind the verb (hoef). This is called inversion.
Why does hoef lose its -t ending? Normally it is je hoeft.
In Dutch, when the subject je or jij (you) comes directly after the verb, the verb drops the -t ending. Because the starting word Daarom caused inversion, je hoeft turns into hoef je.
I thought "have to" is moeten. Why is hoeven used here?
Why do we say geen kaart instead of niet een kaart?
When negating an indefinite noun (a noun with "a", "an", or no article), Dutch uses geen instead of niet. You can think of geen kaart as meaning "not a card" or "zero cards".
Why is there a te before trekken?
The verb hoeven requires the word te when it is linked to another verb (the infinitive). Just like in English you say "have to draw", in Dutch you say hoeven te trekken.
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