Word
Als de dief de helikopter had, zou hij de diamant stelen.
Meaning
If the thief had the helicopter, he would steal the diamond.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Als de dief de helikopter had, zou hij de diamant stelen.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
hebben
to have
zullen
shall / will
stelen
to steal
Questions & Answers about Als de dief de helikopter had, zou hij de diamant stelen.
Why are we using the past tense had if this is about a present or future situation?
This is a hypothetical sentence. Just like in English, Dutch uses the simple past tense (had) to show that the situation isn't real right now. The thief doesn't actually have the helicopter.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with the verb zou?
The second part uses zou (would) plus the infinitive stelen (to steal) to show the hypothetical result. It starts with zou because of the verb-second rule. The entire Als clause counts as the first piece of information in the sentence, so the main verb zou must immediately follow it in the second position.
Why is had placed at the very end of the first clause?
Because Als (if) introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb (in this case, had) gets pushed to the very end of that clause, right before the comma.
Could I say Als de dief de helikopter zou hebben instead of had?
While it might be understood, using the simple past had is much more natural and standard here. Just like in English, it is much better to say 'If he had' rather than 'If he would have'. You save the zou for the second half of the sentence to show the result.