Breakdown of Het voelt alsof ik niet in de werkelijkheid leef.
ik
I
niet
not
in
in
het
it
leven
to live (to be alive)
voelen
to feel (something) / to seem/feel (a certain way)
alsof
as if
de werkelijkheid
the reality
Questions & Answers about Het voelt alsof ik niet in de werkelijkheid leef.
Why is the verb leef at the very end of the sentence?
The word alsof (as if) is a subordinating conjunction. This means it introduces a subordinate clause, which forces the conjugated verb (leef) to move to the very end of that clause.
Can I use the past tense after alsof to show it is a hypothetical situation?
Yes! Just like in English, Dutch often uses the past tense (leefde) after alsof to emphasize that the situation is unreal or hypothetical. However, using the present tense (leef) is also completely correct here and makes the feeling sound more immediate to the speaker.
Why is niet placed before in de werkelijkheid?
In Dutch, the negation word niet generally comes before prepositional phrases (phrases starting with words like in, op, or naar). Because alsof has pushed the verb to the end of the clause, niet ends up directly following the subject ik.
How does the word werkelijkheid mean reality?
It is built from the adjective werkelijk, which means real or actual. The suffix -heid works just like -ity or -ness in English, turning an adjective into an abstract noun.
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