Breakdown of De levensstijl van de chirurg is te duur om te onderhouden.
zijn
to be
duur
expensive
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
onderhouden
to maintain
de chirurg
the surgeon
de levensstijl
the lifestyle
Questions & Answers about De levensstijl van de chirurg is te duur om te onderhouden.
This lesson is about van wie (whose). Why isn't it used in this sentence?
This sentence is a simple statement meaning "The lifestyle of the surgeon". Van wie (whose) is a relative pronoun used to connect clauses. To use it, you would need to change the sentence into a relative clause, such as: De chirurg van wie de levensstijl te duur is... (The surgeon whose lifestyle is too expensive...).
Why do we use om te before onderhouden?
The combination te [adjective] om te [infinitive] is the standard Dutch way to say "too [adjective] to [verb]". Just like in English, you need this fixed structure to express that a quality is too extreme to allow a certain action.
Why is there an extra 's' in the middle of levensstijl?
Levensstijl is a compound noun made of leven (life) and stijl (style). The extra 's' in the middle is a linking sound called a "tussen-s" (between-s). It is very commonly added in Dutch compound words to make them flow better when spoken.
Could I say de chirurgs levensstijl instead of de levensstijl van de chirurg?
Yes, that is grammatically correct! Adding an 's' to indicate possession works for nouns referring to people in Dutch. However, using van (of) is much more common and sounds more natural in everyday speech, especially with job titles.
Learn De levensstijl van de chirurg is te duur om te onderhouden and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free