Word
Het was de bedoeling dat we het project zouden plannen.
Meaning
It was the intention that we would plan the project.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Het was de bedoeling dat we het project zouden plannen.
zijn
to be
wij
we
het project
the project
het
it
Questions & Answers about Het was de bedoeling dat we het project zouden plannen.
Why do we use zouden plannen here instead of just the past tense planden?
Because this sentence expresses a future action from a past perspective (a "future in the past"). At the time it was intended (Het was de bedoeling), the planning was still in the future. We use zouden plus the infinitive plannen to mean "would plan", exactly as we do in English.
Why are both verbs (zouden plannen) at the very end of the sentence?
The word dat (that) introduces a subordinate clause. In a Dutch subordinate clause, all the verbs are pushed to the end. That is why zouden plannen comes after the direct object het project.
Is Het was de bedoeling the best way to translate "We were supposed to"?
Yes! While it literally means "It was the intention", Dutch speakers use this exact phrase all the time to express that something was "supposed to" or "meant to" happen.
Could I swap the order of the verbs at the end and write plannen zouden?
Yes, you can. At the end of a subordinate clause, you can place the auxiliary verb (zouden) either before or after the main infinitive (plannen). Putting the auxiliary first (zouden plannen) is generally more common in everyday speech, but both are completely correct.