Breakdown of De bijsluiter lezen indien u de pil heeft geslikt.
u
you (formal)
hebben
to have
lezen
to read
de pil
the pill
Questions & Answers about De bijsluiter lezen indien u de pil heeft geslikt.
Why does this sentence use the infinitive lezen instead of a normal command like lees?
In Dutch, the full infinitive is often used to give impersonal instructions. You will frequently see this in recipes, manuals, and medical leaflets (bijsluiters). It acts as a general command. Notice that in these infinitive commands, the verb is placed at the end of its own phrase: De bijsluiter lezen (literally: The leaflet to read).
How is indien different from als?
Both mean "if", but indien is much more formal, translating closer to "in the event that". It is mostly found in written instructions, official documents, or legal texts. Because it is a subordinating conjunction, it pushes the verbs in its clause (heeft geslikt) to the very end of the sentence.
Why is the verb order heeft geslikt at the end, and could I say geslikt heeft instead?
Because indien introduces a subordinate clause, all the verbs are pushed to the end. When you have an auxiliary verb (heeft) and a past participle (geslikt) at the end of a clause, Dutch allows you to put them in either order. Both heeft geslikt and geslikt heeft are completely correct.
Why does the sentence use geslikt (swallowed) instead of a translation for "taken"?