Word
Wij zijn eerlijk tegen elkaar, zodat we geen geheimen hebben.
Meaning
We are honest with each other, so that we have no secrets.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Wij zijn eerlijk tegen elkaar, zodat we geen geheimen hebben.
zijn
to be
wij
we
hebben
to have
geen
no / not any
Questions & Answers about Wij zijn eerlijk tegen elkaar, zodat we geen geheimen hebben.
Why do we use tegen elkaar instead of met elkaar for "with each other"?
In Dutch, the adjective eerlijk (honest) is usually followed by the preposition tegen (towards/against), not met (with). So, "to be honest with each other" translates to eerlijk zijn tegen elkaar. It helps to think of it as being honest towards someone.
Why is the verb hebben placed at the very end of the sentence?
The word zodat (so that) is a subordinating conjunction. This means it introduces a subclause, which in Dutch always pushes the conjugated verb (hebben) to the very end of that clause.
Why use geen instead of niet to say "we have no secrets"?
You use geen (no / not any) to negate nouns that are indefinite, meaning they don't have words like "the" or "my" in front of them. Since geheimen (secrets) is a general plural noun here, we negate it with geen. If you were denying a specific secret, you would use niet (e.g., we hebben het geheim niet).
Are there other words for elkaar that I might hear?