Breakdown of Ondanks de grote inspanning zullen we moeten volhouden.
groot
big
moeten
to have to, must
zullen
shall / will
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
ondanks
despite
volhouden
to persevere
de inspanning
the effort (exertion)
Questions & Answers about Ondanks de grote inspanning zullen we moeten volhouden.
How do you use ondanks in this sentence compared to English?
Just like the English word "despite", ondanks is a preposition that directly attaches to a noun phrase. Here it connects directly to de grote inspanning (the great effort) without needing any extra linking words like "of" or "that".
Why is the word order zullen we instead of we zullen?
Why are there two infinitives, moeten and volhouden, at the very end of the sentence?
The verb zullen is an auxiliary (helping) verb, which sends all other verbs to the end of the sentence. Because we are expressing "have to persevere", we end up with two infinitives stacking together. When combining a modal verb like moeten and a main verb like volhouden at the end, the modal usually comes first.
Volhouden is a separable verb. Why isn't it split up here?
You are right that volhouden is separable (vol + houden). However, separable verbs only split when they act as the conjugated verb in the main clause. Since zullen is the conjugated verb here, volhouden remains in its full, unsplit infinitive form at the end of the sentence.
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