Word
Hij hoeft alleen maar het touchscreen aan te raken.
Meaning
He only has to touch the touchscreen.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hij hoeft alleen maar het touchscreen aan te raken.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
alleen
alone; only
hoeven
to need (to)
te
to (infinitive marker)
Questions & Answers about Hij hoeft alleen maar het touchscreen aan te raken.
I learned before that hoeven is used for negative sentences like "don't have to". Why is it used here in a positive sentence?
You are right that hoeven usually requires a negative word like niet or geen. However, restrictive phrases like alleen maar (only/just) or slechts (merely) also trigger hoeven. Together, they create a "restrictive obligation," meaning you only need to do that one specific thing and nothing else.
Why is te placed in the middle of aan te raken instead of before it?
Aanraken (to touch) is a separable verb, consisting of the prefix aan and the base verb raken. When you need to use te with a separable verb, it always gets sandwiched between the prefix and the base verb, written as a single word: aan te raken.
Can I use moeten instead of hoeven here, like Hij moet alleen maar...?
Why does het touchscreen come before the verb at the end?