Learn Dutch: Of de sollicitant praat vloeiend Nederlands, of hij leert de taal snel. - Either the applicant speaks fluent Dutch, or he learns the language quickly.

Of de sollicitant praat vloeiend Nederlands, of hij leert de taal snel.

Either the applicant speaks fluent Dutch, or he learns the language quickly.

Breakdown of Of de sollicitant praat vloeiend Nederlands, of hij leert de taal snel.

hij

he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)

Questions & Answers about Of de sollicitant praat vloeiend Nederlands, of hij leert de taal snel.

Does the phrase of ... of change the sentence structure?

No, it doesn't. Because of is a coordinating conjunction (like en or maar), it connects two equal parts without changing their word order. Notice how both halves keep the standard Subject-Verb order: de sollicitant praat and hij leert.

I learned that "of" pushes the verb to the end of the sentence. Why doesn't that happen here?

You are thinking of of when it is used to mean "if" or "whether" (for example: I don't know whether he is coming). When of means "or"—and when of ... of means "either ... or"—it does not push the verb to the end.

Why is it vloeiend Nederlands and not vloeiende Nederlands?

All languages in Dutch are het-words (het Nederlands, het Engels). When you put an adjective before a het-word that doesn't have a specific article (like het, dit, or dat) in front of it, the adjective does not get an -e at the end.

Why is snel at the very end of the sentence, rather than right after the verb?