Breakdown of Doet het er echt toe of iemand oppervlakkig is?
zijn
to be
het
it
iemand
someone
echt
real; really (genuinely)
of
if / whether
ertoe doen
to matter
oppervlakkig
superficial
Questions & Answers about Doet het er echt toe of iemand oppervlakkig is?
The verb here is ertoe doen (to matter). How does it split up in this question?
Because this is a yes/no question, the main verb doet moves to the front. The remaining part, ertoe, acts a lot like a separable prefix, moving toward the end of the clause. However, ertoe itself splits! The er likes to sit early in the sentence (right after the subject het), while toe is pushed to the end of the main clause. Adverbs like echt (really) are placed between them.
Why does the sentence use of for "if", instead of als?
In Dutch, of is used for "if" when it actually means "whether" (introducing a yes/no possibility). Since you can rephrase the English sentence as "Does it really matter whether someone is superficial?", you must use of. You use als for conditional "if" statements, like "If it rains, I will stay home."
Why does the verb is go at the very end of the sentence?
The word of (whether) introduces a subordinate clause (of iemand oppervlakkig is). In Dutch subordinate clauses, the verb is always sent to the very end. That is why is comes after the adjective oppervlakkig.
Literally, what does ertoe doen translate to?
Literally, it translates to something like "to do to it". Ertoe is a combination of er (here meaning "it") and the preposition toe (to). As a fixed expression, ertoe doen simply means "to matter" or "to be relevant."
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