Breakdown of Hij kan het antwoord niet afleiden, omdat de informatie ontbreekt.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
niet
not
het antwoord
the answer
kunnen
can
Questions & Answers about Hij kan het antwoord niet afleiden, omdat de informatie ontbreekt.
The current lesson is about using moeten for deductions. Why does this sentence use kan instead?
This sentence is describing the inability to make a deduction, rather than making the deduction itself. It uses kan niet (cannot) with the explicit verb afleiden (to deduce). If we were actively concluding something based on evidence, we would use moeten, as in: Dat moet het antwoord zijn (That must be the answer).
I thought the verb afleiden meant 'to distract'. Does it mean something else here?
Yes, afleiden has multiple meanings! It is a separable verb that means 'to distract', but in logical or scientific contexts, it means 'to deduce' or 'to derive'. The context of missing information here tells you that he cannot deduce the answer, rather than distract it.
The English translation says 'is missing'. Why is there no Dutch word for 'is' here?
The Dutch verb ontbreken inherently means 'to be missing' or 'to lack'. You do not need to add a form of the verb zijn (to be) because the 'is' is already built into the meaning of ontbreekt.
Why is niet placed right before afleiden in the first clause?