Breakdown of Daarom gebeurt er iets vreemds met de stapel.
met
with
gebeuren
to happen
er
there (existential)
iets
something
Questions & Answers about Daarom gebeurt er iets vreemds met de stapel.
Why does the verb gebeurt come before the subject?
Because the sentence starts with the word daarom (therefore). In Dutch, the verb always takes the second position. When you put an adverb like daarom at the very beginning, the verb (gebeurt) must come immediately after it to stay in position two. This causes "inversion," pushing the subject to the other side of the verb.
Why is the word er used here?
In this sentence, er acts like "there" does in English (as in "there is a problem"). Because the real subject of the sentence (iets vreemds, meaning "something strange") is vague and undefined, Dutch uses er to introduce it. You can think of it as literally saying "Therefore, there happens something strange with the pile."
Why does vreemd (strange) have an -s at the end?
When an adjective follows an indefinite word like iets (something), niets (nothing), or wat (something/a little), it gets an -s added to the end. That is why "something strange" becomes iets vreemds.
Why does the Dutch sentence use met (with) instead of a word for "to"?