Als ik rijk was, zou ik alleen maar hoeven te ontspannen.
If I were rich, I would only need to relax.
Breakdown of Als ik rijk was, zou ik alleen maar hoeven te ontspannen.
ik
I
zijn
to be
zullen
shall / will
alleen
alone; only
Questions & Answers about Als ik rijk was, zou ik alleen maar hoeven te ontspannen.
Why does the sentence use the past tense was if the meaning is "If I were rich" right now?
To talk about an unreal or hypothetical situation in the present, Dutch uses the simple past tense, just like English does. This is often called the irrealis. The main clause then follows up with zou or zouden (would) plus an infinitive verb to complete the "would do something" idea.
Why is the word order zou ik instead of ik zou in the second part of the sentence?
In Dutch, the conjugated verb must be the second idea in a main clause. The entire "if" clause (Als ik rijk was) counts as the first idea. Therefore, the verb zou must come immediately after the comma, pushing the subject ik to the third spot.
Why are both alleen and maar used here? Doesn't alleen already mean "only"?
While alleen means "only" or "alone", combining it with maar emphasizes the restriction, translating roughly to "only just" or "nothing but". In everyday Dutch, alleen maar is the most natural way to express that you would only have to do one single thing and nothing else.
Could I use moeten instead of hoeven te to say I "need to" relax?