Word
Hij zei dat hij vandaag zou bellen.
Meaning
He said that he would call today.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hij zei dat hij vandaag zou bellen.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
vandaag
today
bellen
to call
zeggen
to say
Questions & Answers about Hij zei dat hij vandaag zou bellen.
Why do we use zou instead of zal in this sentence?
Because the action is being reported in the past tense. The main verb zei (said) is in the past. Just like in English where 'will' becomes 'would' in a narrative, the Dutch zal (will) changes to its past tense form zou (would) to show the 'future in the past'.
What would this sentence look like if the first part was in the present tense?
If you change the main verb to the present tense, you must use the standard future tense zal (will). The sentence would become: Hij zegt dat hij vandaag zal bellen (He says that he will call today).
Why are both zou and bellen pushed all the way to the end of the sentence?
The word dat (that) introduces a subclause. In Dutch, a subclause kicks all of its verbs to the end. Since we have an auxiliary verb (zou) and an infinitive (bellen), they form a verb cluster right at the end.
Can I switch the order at the end and say bellen zou?
Yes, you can! When you have a helper verb and an infinitive at the end of a subclause, Dutch generally allows you to put them in either order. Both zou bellen and bellen zou are grammatically correct, though zou bellen is usually more common in spoken Dutch.