Breakdown of Hij probeert daar zorgvuldig naar te zoeken.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
daar
there
naar
to
zoeken
to look for
Questions & Answers about Hij probeert daar zorgvuldig naar te zoeken.
Why does the sentence use daar ... naar to mean "for it"?
In Dutch, you cannot combine a preposition (like naar) with a normal pronoun for a non-living thing (like het). Instead of saying naar het ("for it"), you must combine them into a pronominal adverb: daarnaar (literally "there-for").
Why are daar and naar split apart by the word zorgvuldig?
Pronominal adverbs like daarnaar are very often split in Dutch. The first part (daar) goes relatively early in the sentence, while the second part (naar) gets pushed toward the end, right before the verbs. Any other adverbs describing how the action is done—like zorgvuldig (carefully)—will naturally sit right between them.
I thought "to search" was just zoeken. Why do we need naar here?
While you can use zoeken on its own, when you specify what you are looking for, the verb is usually paired with the preposition naar (zoeken naar = to search for). Because this sentence is about searching for a specific thing, we have to include naar, which then becomes part of the daar ... naar split structure.
Why is te placed right before zoeken?