Breakdown of Hoewel het kleinkind wordt verwend, mist hij zijn ouders.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
missen
to miss / to lack
zijn
his
de ouders
the parents
worden
to become
hoewel
although
verwennen
to spoil (a child)
het kleinkind
the grandchild
Questions & Answers about Hoewel het kleinkind wordt verwend, mist hij zijn ouders.
Why is it mist hij instead of hij mist in the second half of the sentence?
Because the sentence starts with a subordinate clause (Hoewel het kleinkind wordt verwend). In Dutch, if you start a sentence with anything other than the subject, the subject and verb in the main clause swap places (inversion). The subordinate clause acts as the first block of information, so the main verb (mist) must come right after it, followed by the subject (hij).
Why are the verbs placed at the very end in the first clause (wordt verwend)?
The word hoewel (although) is a subordinating conjunction. Words like this introduce a subordinate clause and always push all the verbs in that clause to the very end.
How does the grammar in wordt verwend work to mean 'is being spoiled'?
This is an example of the passive voice. To talk about an action happening to a subject without saying who is doing it, Dutch uses the verb worden (to become) plus a past participle. So wordt combined with the past participle verwend means 'is being spoiled'.
Since kleinkind is a het word, why does the sentence use hij (he) instead of het (it)?
While kleinkind is grammatically neuter, it refers to a human being. In modern Dutch, when referring back to neuter words for people (like het kind or het meisje), speakers often switch to natural gender pronouns like hij (he) or zij (she) rather than calling a person 'it'.
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