Breakdown of Je moet langzaam uitademen om je beter te concentreren.
moeten
to have to, must
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
beter
better
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
zich concentreren
to concentrate
langzaam
slow
uitademen
to breathe out
Questions & Answers about Je moet langzaam uitademen om je beter te concentreren.
Why is there a second je in om je beter te concentreren?
In Dutch, the verb for 'to concentrate' is reflexive: zich concentreren. Even though it sounds strange in English to say 'to concentrate yourself', Dutch requires the reflexive pronoun. Because the main subject is Je, the reflexive pronoun in the infinitive clause changes to match it, becoming je.
Where exactly does the reflexive pronoun go in an om ... te clause?
The reflexive pronoun generally goes immediately after om. It comes before adverbs like beter and before the te + infinitive. That is why the order is om je beter te concentreren, rather than putting je later in the clause.
Why is uitademen written as one word here?
Uitademen (to breathe out) is a separable verb, but separable verbs only split when they are the conjugated verb in a main clause. Here, the modal verb moet is the conjugated verb, which pushes uitademen to the end of that clause as a full, unbroken infinitive.
Could I drop om and just say te concentreren?
No, because here you are expressing a goal or purpose ('in order to' concentrate). Whenever you mean 'in order to', you must use the full om ... te structure in Dutch.
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