Breakdown of Alles is stil; er beweegt helemaal niets.
zijn
to be
stil
quiet
helemaal
completely
er
there (existential)
Questions & Answers about Alles is stil; er beweegt helemaal niets.
What does adding helemaal to niets change in this sentence?
The word helemaal literally means 'entirely' or 'completely'. When placed before niets, it amplifies the negation, turning it into 'absolutely nothing' or 'nothing at all'.
Why do we say er beweegt helemaal niets instead of just helemaal niets beweegt?
Dutch strongly prefers using er (there) as a dummy subject when the real subject is an indefinite word like niets. While starting with helemaal niets beweegt is understandable, using er sounds much more natural to native speakers, similar to saying 'there is absolutely nothing moving' in English.
Could I use helemaal niet instead of helemaal niets here?
No, because they have different meanings. Helemaal niet means 'not at all' and is used to negate an action or description. Helemaal niets means 'nothing at all' and acts as a thing or pronoun. Here, the sentence needs a subject that is failing to move, so it must be niets.
Do alles and niets always take singular verbs like is and beweegt?