Breakdown of De jongen die zijn haar laat knippen, woont hier.
de jongen
the boy
hier
here
wonen
to live
zijn
his
het haar
the hair
die
who / that (relative pronoun)
knippen
to cut (with scissors)
laten
to have (something) done
Questions & Answers about De jongen die zijn haar laat knippen, woont hier.
Why do we use laat knippen here instead of just knipt?
Because he isn't cutting his hair himself! The verb laten is used here to mean 'to have something done' by someone else. By combining laat with the bare infinitive knippen (to cut), it perfectly translates the idea that he 'is having his hair cut' (by a hairdresser).
Why are the verbs laat knippen pushed all the way to the end of the die part?
The word die (who) introduces a relative clause describing the boy. Relative clauses follow subclause word order, which means all the verbs get pushed to the very end of that clause. That is why laat knippen sits right before the comma.
Could I change the order of the verbs at the end to knippen laat?
Yes, you can! In Dutch subclauses that end with two verbs, you can usually put the conjugated verb (laat) before the infinitive (knippen) or the other way around. Both laat knippen and knippen laat are grammatically correct, though laat knippen often sounds a bit more natural here.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with woont? Shouldn't there be a subject like hij?
The subject for woont is actually the entire first chunk of the sentence: De jongen die zijn haar laat knippen. Because this whole long subject occupies the first position of the main sentence, the main verb woont must come immediately after it in the second position. This is the strict Dutch V2 (verb-second) rule in action.
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