Breakdown of De koper zei dat hij liever centraal zou wonen.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
wonen
to live
zeggen
to say
liever
rather (prefer)
Questions & Answers about De koper zei dat hij liever centraal zou wonen.
This lesson focuses on comparatives. Is liever a comparative word?
Yes! Liever is the irregular comparative form of the adverb graag (gladly). While English uses phrases like "prefer to" or "would rather", Dutch expresses this by adding the comparative liever to an action to mean you do it "more gladly".
Why are the verbs zou wonen placed at the very end of the sentence?
Because the second half of the sentence is introduced by the conjunction dat (that). This creates a subordinate clause, which forces all the verbs to group together at the end of the clause.
Can I change the order of the verbs at the end to wonen zou?
Yes, you can. In a subordinate clause, a helping verb like zou and an infinitive like wonen can usually go in either order at the end. Both zou wonen and wonen zou are perfectly fine, though zou wonen is slightly more common.
Why do we use zou here instead of just the past tense of "to live"?
Zou is the past tense of zullen (will), and together with the infinitive wonen it creates the conditional tense. It expresses a hypothetical desire (he "would live") rather than a fact of where he lived.