Breakdown of De bestemming is dichtbij, u slaat hier af.
zijn
to be
u
you (formal)
hier
here
dichtbij
nearby
Questions & Answers about De bestemming is dichtbij, u slaat hier af.
This lesson is about direction words. Could I say u slaat hierheen af?
No, because you are not traveling towards 'here'. Words like hierheen or hiernaartoe imply movement toward a destination. In this sentence, the action of turning happens at your current location, so you just use the fixed location word hier.
Why does the word af appear at the very end?
The verb used here is afslaan (to turn), which is a separable verb. In a standard main clause, the core part of the verb (slaat) takes the second position, and the prefix (af) gets pushed to the end of the clause.
Why doesn't the word order invert after the comma to become slaat u?
The comma here simply connects two independent main clauses. Because the second clause starts fresh with its subject (u), the verb (slaat) stays in its normal second position. You would only invert them if you started the clause with a different word, like a time or a place.
Is dichtbij always written as one single word?
It is written as one word when it acts as a standalone adverb meaning 'nearby' or 'close', just like in this sentence. However, if you are saying something is close to a specific place, it splits into an adverb and a preposition: dicht bij het centrum (close to the center).