Breakdown of U kunt deze regel overal toepassen.
u
you (formal)
deze
this / these
overal
everywhere
kunnen
can
de regel
the rule
toepassen
to apply (a rule, method)
Questions & Answers about U kunt deze regel overal toepassen.
Why is the separable verb toepassen written as one word here instead of being split?
Because it is used with the modal verb kunt (can). When a separable verb is the main infinitive in a sentence with a modal verb, it stays together as one word and is placed at the very end of the sentence. It only separates when it acts as the conjugated verb, like in: Ik pas de regel overal toe (I apply the rule everywhere).
Since u is the formal 'you', shouldn't the verb be kan (like he/she/it) instead of kunt?
For the formal pronoun u, both u kunt and u kan are actually correct! However, u kunt is strongly preferred in written and polite Dutch, making it the safest choice to match the formal tone of u.
Could I put overal at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize it?
Yes, you can! Just remember that putting an adverb at the start triggers verb-second (V2) inversion. The verb must stay in the second position, meaning the subject (u) and verb (kunt) will swap places: Overal kunt u deze regel toepassen.
Why is it deze regel and not dit regel?
Because regel (rule) is a de-word (de regel). For de-words, we always use deze (this) or die (that). You only use dit (this) or dat (that) with het-words.
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