Learn Dutch: De stengel waarvan de doorns zacht zijn, is veilig.

De stengel waarvan de doorns zacht zijn, is veilig.

The stem whose thorns are soft is safe.

Breakdown of De stengel waarvan de doorns zacht zijn, is veilig.

Questions & Answers about De stengel waarvan de doorns zacht zijn, is veilig.

Why do we use waarvan here instead of a word like wiens to mean 'whose'?

In Dutch, wiens (whose) is only used for people. For inanimate objects like de stengel (the stem), you must use a pronominal adverb like waarvan, which literally translates to 'of which'.

Why is the verb zijn placed at the very end of the middle section?

The part between the commas (waarvan de doorns zacht zijn) is a relative clause. In Dutch, relative clauses follow subclause word order, which means the conjugated verb gets pushed to the end.

Why does the main verb is come immediately after the comma?

The entire phrase before the comma (De stengel waarvan de doorns zacht zijn) acts as the complete subject of the main sentence. Because this whole block takes up the first position, the V2 rule dictates that the main verb (is) must come right after it.

Is it de doorns or de doornen for the plural of 'thorn'?

Both doorns and doornen are correct plural forms for de doorn. You will see both in Dutch, but doorns is slightly more common in modern everyday speech.