Breakdown of Het project zal vooruitgaan als er geen tegenstand is.
zijn
to be
geen
no / not any
het project
the project
zullen
shall / will
er
there (existential)
als
if / when (condition)
de tegenstand
the opposition
vooruitgaan
to progress
Questions & Answers about Het project zal vooruitgaan als er geen tegenstand is.
Why is is at the very end of the sentence?
Because als (if) introduces a subordinate clause, which is a dependent part of the sentence. In Dutch subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb gets pushed all the way to the end. So the structure is literally "...if there no opposition is."
What is the literal meaning of vooruitgaan and why is it written as one word here?
It is a separable verb made up of vooruit (forward) and gaan (to go), so it literally means "to go forward". It is written together as a full infinitive here because the auxiliary verb zal (will) has already taken the main verb position earlier in the sentence.
This lesson covers ondanks (despite). How would we rewrite this to say "The project will progress despite the opposition"?
You would say Het project zal vooruitgaan ondanks de tegenstand. Because ondanks is a preposition, it simply takes a noun phrase after it (de tegenstand). You no longer need a full subordinate clause with its own verb like you do with als.
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