Word
Zij slaapt beter zonder haar smartphone te checken.
Meaning
She sleeps better without checking her smartphone.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Zij slaapt beter zonder haar smartphone te checken.
zij
she
slapen
to sleep
haar
her
beter
better
Questions & Answers about Zij slaapt beter zonder haar smartphone te checken.
In English, we say "without checking" with an "-ing" verb. Why does Dutch use te checken here?
When a preposition like zonder (without) introduces an action in Dutch, you cannot use an "-ing" form. Instead, you must use the pattern zonder + te + the infinitive verb.
Why does haar smartphone come before the verb instead of after it?
In this type of clause, zonder starts the phrase and the verb part (te checken) must go at the very end. The object of the action (haar smartphone) gets sandwiched in between.
Is it possible to leave out te and just say zonder haar smartphone checken?
No, te is strictly required when a verb follows zonder. If she was just sleeping "without her smartphone" (no verb), you would say zonder haar smartphone. But because there is an action (checking), it has to be zonder ... te checken.
Does the English loan verb checken follow normal Dutch rules here?
Yes! Even though "to check" comes from English, it is treated as a completely normal Dutch verb. It takes the standard -en ending and sits at the end of the clause with te, just like a native verb would.