Breakdown of We gebruiken de lens zonder de flits aan te zetten.
gebruiken
to use
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
te
to (infinitive marker)
aanzetten
to turn on
zonder
without
de lens
the lens
de flits
the flash
Questions & Answers about We gebruiken de lens zonder de flits aan te zetten.
Why is te placed in the middle of aan te zetten instead of before it?
Aanzetten (to turn on) is a separable verb, made of the prefix aan and the base verb zetten. When you need to use te with a separable verb, it always gets sandwiched between the prefix and the verb, creating a three-word phrase: aan te zetten.
How does the grammar for "without turning on" work in this sentence?
While English uses "without" plus an "-ing" verb ("turning"), Dutch uses zonder (without) paired with te and the infinitive verb. Because zonder introduces a type of subclause, the verb block (aan te zetten) gets pushed to the very end, and the object (de flits) must go in the middle.
Where is the double infinitive with a posture verb that we are learning about in this lesson?
This specific sentence is in the simple present tense (gebruiken), so the perfect tense rules don't apply. However, if you wanted to change this to the perfect tense and say "We have been sitting and using the lens", you would use the double infinitive rule: We hebben de lens zitten gebruiken zonder de flits aan te zetten. Notice how the posture verb (zitten) and the action verb (gebruiken) go together without a te!
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