Breakdown of De koning beval de soldaat om te vechten.
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
vechten
to fight
de koning
the king
de soldaat
the soldier
bevelen
to command / to order (someone to do something)
Questions & Answers about De koning beval de soldaat om te vechten.
How does the structure om te vechten work for reported commands?
When reporting a command or request in Dutch (like ordering someone to do something), you use om te followed by the infinitive verb at the very end. It works just like the English structure "to [verb]" used in "commanded the soldier to fight".
What is the infinitive of beval, and is it irregular?
The infinitive is bevelen (to command or to order). It is a strong (irregular) verb. The singular past tense is beval, the plural past is bevalen, and the past participle is bevolen.
If the king commanded him to fight bravely (dapper), where would that word go in the sentence?
It would go between om and te. In an om te clause, the extra details like adverbs or objects get sandwiched in the middle. The sentence would become: De koning beval de soldaat om dapper te vechten.
Could we use a dat (that) clause instead of om te here?
Yes, you could rephrase it as De koning beval dat de soldaat moest vechten (The king commanded that the soldier had to fight). However, using om te is often preferred and sounds very natural when the person receiving the command (de soldaat) is already the object of the main sentence.
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