Learn Dutch: Voor mij doet het uiterlijk er niet toe. - To me, appearance does not matter.

The infinitive is ertoe doen (to matter). It is a separable verb that includes the word er. When conjugated in a main clause, the verb part (doet) takes the second position. The ertoe part splits into er and toe, with toe being pushed to the very end of the sentence.

Why is niet placed between er and toe?

The word er prefers to appear early in the middle part of the sentence (here, right after the subject), while the separated prefix toe must go to the very end. The negating word niet naturally falls between them because it cannot push past that final verb piece at the end of the clause.

Why is the verb placed before the subject (doet het uiterlijk)?

This happens because of the verb-second (V2) rule. Since the sentence starts with the phrase Voor mij (To me), that takes up the first position. The conjugated verb doet must come second, which forces the subject het uiterlijk (the appearance) to immediately follow it.

Does the word toe translate to anything on its own here?