Breakdown of Ze koopt er geen wol meer voor, want ze wil niet meer breien.
kopen
to buy
willen
to want
want
because
voor
for (on behalf of)
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
er
it (in 'er ... op/mee', pronominal adverb)
de wol
the wool
niet meer
not anymore / no longer
geen meer
no more / no longer any
breien
to knit
Questions & Answers about Ze koopt er geen wol meer voor, want ze wil niet meer breien.
Why do we use geen wol meer in the first half, but niet meer in the second half?
It depends on what you are negating! In the first half, she is no longer buying wool (wol). Because wol is an indefinite noun (a noun without 'the', 'this', or 'my' in front of it), we negate it with geen. Adding meer gives us geen wol meer (no more wool / not wool anymore). In the second half, she doesn't want to knit (breien). Because we are negating an action (a verb), we use niet meer.
What is er doing in this sentence, and why is voor all the way at the end of the first clause?
Together, they form the pronominal adverb ervoor, which means 'for it' (referring back to whatever she used to knit). In Dutch, it is very common to split these words. The er part jumps near the beginning of the clause, right after the verb, and the preposition part (voor) gets pushed to the end of the clause.
Why doesn't the word order change after want (because)?
want is a coordinating conjunction, meaning it simply links two normal main clauses together without changing their word order. So, we keep the standard Subject-Verb order: ze wil (she wants). If you used omdat (which also means 'because'), it would force the verbs to the end: ...omdat ze niet meer wil breien.
Why is breien placed at the very end of the sentence?
The second clause has two verbs: the modal verb wil (wants) and the main action breien (to knit). In a Dutch main clause, the conjugated verb (wil) stays in the normal second position, while the full infinitive verb (breien) gets pushed to the very end.
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