Breakdown of Ze zal de deur vermoedelijk niet sluiten.
niet
not
de deur
the door
zullen
shall / will
sluiten
to close
Questions & Answers about Ze zal de deur vermoedelijk niet sluiten.
Wait, I thought zal meant will for the future tense. Why does the translation say presumably won't?
While zullen is often used for the future tense, it is also frequently used to express an assumption or probability. In this sentence, zal combines with vermoedelijk (presumably) to show that the speaker is guessing about the current or upcoming situation rather than stating a guaranteed future fact.
If zal already expresses an assumption here, do we really need the word vermoedelijk?
You don't strictly need it, but adding an adverb like vermoedelijk or waarschijnlijk (probably) makes the assumption much clearer. Without it, Ze zal de deur niet sluiten sounds more like a firm future statement: She will not close the door.
Why is niet placed right before sluiten?
In Dutch, when negating the action itself, niet generally goes just before the verb it negates. Here, that is the infinitive sluiten parked at the end of the sentence. Also, niet naturally comes after adverbs of probability like vermoedelijk.
Can I use dichtdoen instead of sluiten here?