Breakdown of Je zult een loep nodig hebben voor dat laatje.
een
a/an
hebben
to have
nodig
needed
dat
that (het-words)
Questions & Answers about Je zult een loep nodig hebben voor dat laatje.
Where does the word laatje come from, and why does it have a double 'a'?
Laatje is the diminutive of la (drawer). Because la ends in a single, open long vowel, we must double the vowel before adding the -tje suffix to keep the sound long. If we just wrote "latje", it would have a short 'a' sound (and would actually mean "little slat", from the word lat).
Why do we say dat laatje instead of die laatje?
While the base word is de la, every diminutive in Dutch automatically becomes a het word (het laatje). Therefore, we must use the neuter demonstrative pronoun dat (that) instead of die.
Why is nodig hebben all the way at the end of the sentence?
This sentence uses the auxiliary (helper) verb zullen (will), conjugated as zult. In Dutch main clauses, the conjugated auxiliary takes the second position, pushing the rest of the verb phrase—here, nodig hebben (to need)—to the very end of the sentence.
Could I say Je zal instead of Je zult?