Breakdown of Dit ding is te nutteloos om te bewaren.
zijn
to be
dit
this (neuter)
het ding
the thing
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
bewaren
to keep / preserve
nutteloos
useless
Questions & Answers about Dit ding is te nutteloos om te bewaren.
How does the te ... om te structure work in this sentence?
The structure te + [adjective] + om te + [infinitive verb] works exactly like the English "too" + [adjective] + "to" + [verb]. Here, te nutteloos means "too useless" and om te bewaren tells us what it is too useless to do ("to keep").
Why is it dit ding and not deze ding?
Ding (thing) is a neuter noun, meaning its definite article is het (het ding). For all singular het words, you must use dit for "this" and dat for "that". You only use deze and die with de words or plurals.
How is the word nutteloos built?
It is a combination of the noun nut (use, utility, or purpose) and the suffix -loos. Just like the English suffix "-less", adding -loos to a Dutch noun creates an adjective meaning "without that thing"—so nutteloos directly translates to "useless".
Could I use houden instead of bewaren here to mean "to keep"?
You could, but bewaren is a better fit. Bewaren specifically means to save, store, or hold onto a physical object for later (like putting something away in a drawer or the fridge). Houden is a much broader word for "to keep" (used for keeping a pet, keeping a promise, or keeping something in a certain condition).
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