Breakdown of Hij dwong het slachtoffer om het geld te geven.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
het geld
the money
geven
to give
te
to (infinitive marker)
Questions & Answers about Hij dwong het slachtoffer om het geld te geven.
How does this sentence fit into the lesson about reported commands and requests?
When you report a strong command or forceful action like dwong, you typically use the om ... te structure. It links the main verb to the commanded action by placing om at the start of the subclause and te right before the infinitive verb at the end.
What is the infinitive of dwong, and how does it conjugate?
The infinitive is dwingen (to force). It is an irregular verb: the past tense is dwong (or dwongen for plural), and the past participle is gedwongen.
Why are the words om and te separated by het geld?
In an om ... te clause, the verb always goes at the very end. The strict pattern is om + any objects or extra information + te + infinitive. Because of this rule, the English structure 'to give the money' flips around, and the object het geld has to step between om and te geven.
If the victim is a man or a woman, does the word slachtoffer change to a de-word?
No, slachtoffer is always a neuter noun, so it always takes the article het. Even if you know the victim's actual gender in real life, the word itself remains het slachtoffer.