Breakdown of Zodra de goederen aankomen, begint het transport.
beginnen
to begin
aankomen
to arrive
zodra
as soon as
de goederen
the goods
Questions & Answers about Zodra de goederen aankomen, begint het transport.
Why is the verb aankomen at the very end of the first part?
Zodra is a subordinating conjunction, meaning it introduces a dependent clause. In Dutch, these clauses push the conjugated verb (here, aankomen) to the very end of the clause.
Aankomen is a separable verb. Why isn't it split up here?
Because the clause starts with zodra, the verb is pushed to the end. When a separable verb goes to the end of a dependent clause like this, its prefix and main verb stay attached together as a single word.
Why does the second half say begint het transport instead of het transport begint?
This happens because of a word order rule called inversion. The entire first clause (Zodra de goederen aankomen) counts as the first block of information in the sentence. To keep the main verb (begint) in the second position, the subject (het transport) flips to come right after it.
Is the noun goederen related to the word goed?
Yes! Just like in English where the plural of good becomes the noun goods (meaning freight or merchandise), the Dutch word goed becomes de goederen. Notice it gets the special plural ending -eren, just like how kind becomes kinderen.