Breakdown of Hij praat over het nageslacht alsof hij de machtige vorst zelf is.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
praten
to talk
het
it
over
about
zelf
yourself / oneself (emphatic)
alsof
as if
de vorst
the monarch / the prince (ruler, sovereign)
machtig
powerful (influential, mighty)
het nageslacht
the descendants / the offspring
Questions & Answers about Hij praat over het nageslacht alsof hij de machtige vorst zelf is.
Why does the verb is go at the very end of the sentence?
The word alsof (as if) is a subordinating conjunction. It introduces a dependent clause, which forces the conjugated verb (is) to the very end of that clause.
The English translation says 'descendants', but het nageslacht is singular. Does it have a plural form?
Nageslacht (offspring / descendants) is a collective noun. Just like 'offspring' in English, it refers to a group but is treated grammatically as a singular neuter noun (a het-word) and does not take a plural ending.
Why is zelf placed right before the verb instead of right after hij?
In English, we often put 'himself' right after the pronoun ('as if he himself is...'). In Dutch, zelf is instead placed after the specific noun phrase it emphasizes (de machtige vorst) and just before the verbs at the end of the clause.
If we wanted to expand this sentence to say 'the monarch whose descendants...', would we use wiens or wier?
You would use wiens. When choosing between these formal relative pronouns, you must look at the 'owner' (the antecedent), not the thing being owned. Because de vorst is a masculine noun, it takes wiens, resulting in: de vorst wiens nageslacht...
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