Breakdown of We bestuderen het zaad van de plant, dus we hebben veel tijd nodig.
hebben
to have
veel
much / many / a lot of
de tijd
the time
nodig
needed
de plant
plant
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
dus
so, therefore
bestuderen
to study (examine closely)
het zaad
the seed
Questions & Answers about We bestuderen het zaad van de plant, dus we hebben veel tijd nodig.
This lesson is about waarvan (of which/whose). How could we rewrite this sentence to use it?
This sentence simply says "the seed of the plant" (het zaad van de plant). If you wanted to use waarvan, you would turn it into a relative clause describing the plant. For example: "The plant of which we are studying the seed" (De plant waarvan we het zaad bestuderen).
Why use bestuderen instead of studeren?
You use bestuderen when you are closely examining or studying a specific object, like a seed, a document, or an insect. Studeren is used for studying in a general sense, like attending university or studying for a math test.
Does the word dus (so) change the word order here?
No, dus is a coordinating conjunction. It links two main clauses without changing their word order. That is why the second half starts with the normal subject-verb order: dus we hebben (so we have).
Why does nodig appear at the very end of the sentence?
"To need" in Dutch is the phrase nodig hebben. This works much like a separable verb: the conjugated verb (hebben) takes the normal second position in the sentence, while the word nodig is pushed all the way to the end of the clause.
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