Breakdown of De server staat op het punt te crashen.
op
on
staan
to stand
het punt
the point / the score
te
to (infinitive marker)
Questions & Answers about De server staat op het punt te crashen.
How does staat op het punt te translate to "is about to"?
The expression op het punt staan literally means "to stand on the point". In Dutch, you use it together with te and an infinitive verb to say that something is just about to happen, very similar to saying something is "on the verge of" happening in English.
The lesson mentions om ... te, but there is no om in this sentence. Is it missing?
With the phrase op het punt staan, adding om before the te + infinitive is completely optional. You could easily say De server staat op het punt om te crashen and it would mean exactly the same thing. Leaving om out is very common in shorter sentences like this one.
Is the verb crashen just an English loanword?
Yes! Dutch adopts a lot of English vocabulary, especially for computers and technology. However, it is fully integrated and treated as a regular Dutch verb, meaning it follows Dutch spelling and conjugation rules. For example, you say hij crasht for "it crashes" and hij is gecrasht for "it has crashed".
If I wanted to add the word nu (now) to emphasize the urgency, where would it go?
It would go right after the conjugated verb staat. The sentence would become De server staat nu op het punt te crashen. As a quick refresher, time words like nu usually come as early as possible in the middle of a Dutch sentence, right after the main conjugated verb.