Breakdown of Het is belangrijk om de airconditioning te repareren zonder dat de gast wakker wordt.
zijn
to be
het
it
belangrijk
important
worden
to become
Questions & Answers about Het is belangrijk om de airconditioning te repareren zonder dat de gast wakker wordt.
Why do we use zonder dat here instead of just zonder?
Zonder on its own is a preposition used before nouns (like 'without money'). When you want to express 'without [someone doing something]', you are introducing a full clause with a subject (de gast) and a verb (wordt). In Dutch, you must use the conjunction zonder dat to connect this new clause.
How does zonder dat change the word order of the final clause?
Zonder dat acts as a subordinating conjunction, which means it sends the verb to the end of its clause. Instead of the standard main clause word order (de gast wordt wakker), the conjugated verb (wordt) is forced to the very end of the sentence.
Why are wakker and wordt placed next to each other at the end?
The phrase wakker worden (to wake up) functions like a separable verb. In a standalone sentence, it separates (De gast wordt wakker). However, because zonder dat pushes the verbs to the end of the clause, the parts are brought back together. The conjugated part (wordt) sits right after the prefix (wakker).
Why do we need the words om and te in the middle of the sentence?