Breakdown of Ik weet niet of ze het beton zullen storten, want we hebben nog geen nieuws.
ik
I
niet
not
hebben
to have
geen
no / not any
want
because
zullen
shall / will
weten
to know (a fact)
het nieuws
the news
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
nog
still, yet / more, another (with a quantity)
of
if / whether
het beton
the concrete
storten
to pour (concrete)
Questions & Answers about Ik weet niet of ze het beton zullen storten, want we hebben nog geen nieuws.
Why do we use nog geen instead of nog niet here?
Why are the verbs zullen storten at the end of their clause?
The word of (meaning if or whether) introduces a subordinate clause. In a Dutch subordinate clause, all the verbs are pushed to the very end.
Why doesn't want push the verbs to the end of the sentence like of did?
Want (because) is a coordinating conjunction, which means it just links two normal main clauses without changing their word order. If you used omdat (which also means because), it would act like a subordinate clause and push the verb to the end: omdat we nog geen nieuws hebben.
Could I say storten zullen instead of zullen storten at the end of the clause?
Yes. In a subordinate clause with two verbs, the helping verb (zullen) and the main infinitive (storten) can usually go in either order. Both zullen storten and storten zullen are grammatically correct in Dutch, though zullen storten is often preferred.
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