Word
Als ik meer tijd had, zou ik meer reizen.
Meaning
If I had more time, I would travel more.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Als ik meer tijd had, zou ik meer reizen.
ik
I
hebben
to have
de tijd
the time
zullen
shall / will
Questions & Answers about Als ik meer tijd had, zou ik meer reizen.
Why do we use the past tense had when we are talking about the present?
Because this is a hypothetical situation. In Dutch, just like in English, we use the simple past tense after als to show that something is not actually true right now. You don't have more time, but you are imagining what would happen if you did.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with zou?
The word zou is the singular form of zouden, which translates to would. We use it with the infinitive verb at the end of the sentence (reizen) to describe the imaginary result. Since the subject is ik, we use zou instead of the plural zouden.
Why is it zou ik instead of ik zou in the second half?
This is due to the V2 (verb-second) word order rule. The entire first clause (Als ik meer tijd had) counts as the first block of information. The verb of the main clause (zou) must immediately follow it in the second position, which pushes the subject (ik) right after the verb.
Why is the verb had at the very end of the first part?
The word als (if) introduces a subordinate clause. This means it kicks the verb (had) to the very end of that clause, placing it after meer tijd.