Breakdown of Wij zeggen het feest af, tenzij jullie al zijn aangekomen.
zijn
to be
wij
we
jullie
you (plural)
het feest
the party
aankomen
to arrive
al
already
tenzij
unless
afzeggen
to cancel (an appointment, arrangement)
Questions & Answers about Wij zeggen het feest af, tenzij jullie al zijn aangekomen.
Why are the verbs at the very end of the sentence after tenzij?
The word tenzij (unless) is a subordinating conjunction. This means it introduces a sub-clause and pushes all the verbs in that part of the sentence to the very end. That is why zijn aangekomen comes after jullie al, instead of right next to the subject.
Why is af sitting alone right before the comma?
It belongs to the verb afzeggen (to cancel). This is a separable verb. In a normal main clause like the first half of this sentence, the core verb (zeggen) takes the second position, and the prefix (af) is pushed to the very end of that clause.
Why do we use zijn (are) instead of hebben (have) for 'have arrived'?
In Dutch, verbs that describe a change of state or a clear movement to a destination usually take zijn to form the perfect tense. Since aankomen (to arrive) fits this rule, you must say jullie zijn aangekomen rather than using hebben.
Could I flip the verbs at the end and say aangekomen zijn?
Yes! When a sub-clause sends two verbs to the end of the sentence, you can put the helper verb (zijn) either right before or right after the past participle (aangekomen). Both zijn aangekomen and aangekomen zijn are completely correct.
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