De vlucht gaat door, tenzij de storm hevig is.
The flight is going ahead, unless the storm is severe.
Breakdown of De vlucht gaat door, tenzij de storm hevig is.
zijn
to be
de vlucht
the flight
doorgaan
to continue / to go on
tenzij
unless
de storm
the storm
hevig
severe
Questions & Answers about De vlucht gaat door, tenzij de storm hevig is.
Why is the verb is at the very end of the sentence?
This is because of tenzij (unless). It is a subordinating conjunction, which means it introduces a dependent clause. In Dutch dependent clauses, the working verb is pushed to the very end. That is why it is tenzij de storm hevig is instead of tenzij de storm is hevig.
Does gaat door come from a specific verb, or is it just the word door added to gaan?
It comes from the separable verb doorgaan, which means 'to go ahead', 'to continue', or 'to take place'. Because De vlucht gaat door is a main clause, the verb splits: the main part (gaat) takes the normal second position, and the prefix (door) goes to the end of that clause.
Why doesn't the adjective hevig get an -e at the end here?
Adjectives generally only get an -e ending when they are placed directly before the noun they describe (like de hevige storm). In this sentence, hevig comes after the linking verb is. When used later in the sentence like this, the adjective always stays in its basic, dictionary form.
Could I say behalve als instead of tenzij?
Yes! behalve als (except if) means the exact same thing as tenzij and is very common in everyday spoken Dutch. Just like tenzij, it also pushes the verb to the end of the clause.
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