Word
De kamer is te sober om een afleiding te zijn.
Meaning
The room is too plain to be a distraction.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De kamer is te sober om een afleiding te zijn.
zijn
to be
een
a/an
de kamer
the room
te
to (infinitive marker)
Questions & Answers about De kamer is te sober om een afleiding te zijn.
Does sober mean the room is not drunk?
No, sober is a false friend here! While the English word 'sober' usually means not drunk (the Dutch word for that is nuchter), when describing a room, clothing, or a lifestyle, the Dutch word sober means plain, simple, austere, or without decoration.
Why are there two instances of te in this sentence?
They serve entirely different purposes. The first te is an adverb meaning 'too' (as in te sober, meaning 'too plain'). The second te belongs to the om ... te grammar structure, which is used to put 'to' before an infinitive verb (as in te zijn, meaning 'to be').
Is the word om strictly necessary here?
Yes. The pattern te [adjective] om ... te [verb] is the standard Dutch way to express 'too [adjective] to [verb]'. The word om acts as the mandatory bridge connecting the description of the room to the action it prevents.
Why does zijn appear at the very end of the sentence?
In any om ... te clause, the word te and the infinitive verb (in this case, zijn) must always go at the very end. Any objects or additional information, such as een afleiding (a distraction), are sandwiched between om and te.