Breakdown of Ik ben nog niet bezig de rem los te draaien.
ik
I
zijn
to be
niet
not
nog
still, yet / more, another (with a quantity)
te
to (infinitive marker)
bezig
busy (occupied, engaged)
losdraaien
to loosen
de rem
the brake
Questions & Answers about Ik ben nog niet bezig de rem los te draaien.
Why is there no met after bezig here?
In Dutch, when you pair bezig zijn (to be busy) directly with an action verb, you use te + infinitive, like in this sentence. You only use bezig met if you are following it with a noun or a verb acting as a noun, for example: Ik ben bezig met de rem (I am busy with the brake).
Why is te placed right in the middle of los and draaien?
The verb for loosening or unscrewing is losdraaien, which is a separable verb. When you need to use te (to) with a separable verb, it always gets sandwiched between the separable prefix (los) and the verb itself (draaien). They are written as three separate words: los te draaien.
Why is the object de rem placed before the verbs?
In a te + infinitive clause, the direct object (de rem) comes before the verb at the end of the clause. So instead of loosening the brake, the Dutch word order is literally the brake loose to turn.
Can I say niet nog instead of nog niet for not yet?
No, nog niet is the fixed word order. It literally translates to still not and is the standard way to express not yet in Dutch.
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