Breakdown of Heb je tijd nodig om je bewust te concentreren en in te ademen?
en
and
hebben
to have
de tijd
the time
nodig
needed
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
zich concentreren
to concentrate
bewust
conscious
inademen
to breathe in
Questions & Answers about Heb je tijd nodig om je bewust te concentreren en in te ademen?
Why is there a second je in om je bewust te concentreren?
The verb zich concentreren (to concentrate) is a reflexive verb in Dutch. In an om ... te (in order to) clause, the reflexive pronoun must match the implied subject of the action. Since the person concentrating is je (you), the reflexive pronoun is also je (yourself).
If I changed the beginning to 'Heeft hij tijd nodig...', how would the second half change?
It would become om zich bewust te concentreren. The reflexive pronoun in the infinitive clause has to match the person doing the action. For hij (he), the reflexive pronoun is zich.
Why is the word te placed in the middle of in te ademen?
Inademen (to breathe in) is a separable verb. When a separable verb is used with te (to), the te is placed exactly between the prefix (in) and the main verb (ademen), and it is all written as three separate words.
Why is nodig placed after tijd instead of right next to heb?
The expression for 'to need' is nodig hebben. It behaves a bit like a separable verb: hebben is conjugated and goes to the standard verb position (here, at the start for a question), while nodig is pushed to the end of that clause.
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