Breakdown of Je moet veel eiwit eten, zodat je spieren groeien.
veel
much / many / a lot of
eten
to eat
moeten
to have to, must
groeien
to grow
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
je
your (unstressed)
zodat
so that
het eiwit
the protein
de spier
the muscle
Questions & Answers about Je moet veel eiwit eten, zodat je spieren groeien.
Does the word zodat change the word order in the second part of the sentence?
Yes! zodat (so that) is a subordinating conjunction. This means it introduces a sub-clause and kicks the working verb to the very end. In zodat je spieren groeien, the verb groeien (grow) goes at the end. It happens to look like regular subject-verb order because the clause is so short, but the verb-to-the-end rule is actively at work here.
Why does the Dutch word for protein look like "egg white"?
Because it literally is! eiwit is a compound word made of ei (egg) and wit (white). Dutch uses this exact same word to mean both the white part of an egg and the nutrient "protein".
Why is eten at the end of the first clause?
The first part of the sentence uses the modal verb moet (must). In Dutch, when you have a modal verb as the main working verb, it pushes the second verb—in this case, the full dictionary form eten (to eat)—to the very end of that specific clause.
Are both uses of the word je doing the same thing here?
No, they have different jobs. The first je is a subject pronoun meaning "you" (Je moet = You must). The second je is the unstressed form of the possessive pronoun jouw (your). So je spieren means "your muscles".
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