Breakdown of Zij kan simpelweg niet goed omgaan met de tegenslag, dus ze weigert het te aanvaarden.
zij
she
niet
not
het
it
kunnen
can
goed
good
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
dus
so, therefore
te
to (infinitive marker)
weigeren
to refuse
de tegenslag
the setback
simpelweg
simply (plainly, merely)
aanvaarden
to accept
omgaan met
to deal with (people, situations)
Questions & Answers about Zij kan simpelweg niet goed omgaan met de tegenslag, dus ze weigert het te aanvaarden.
This lesson is about nou eenmaal. Could we use that instead of simpelweg here?
Yes! Both express a sense of inevitability or an unchangeable fact. You could say Zij kan nou eenmaal niet goed omgaan met de tegenslag (She just can't deal with the setback), and it carries the exact same feeling of resignation as simpelweg (simply).
Why doesn't dus cause the verb and subject to invert in the second clause (dus weigert ze)?
Dus (so/therefore) is flexible. Here it acts as a coordinating conjunction (just like en or maar), linking two main clauses without changing the word order. You can also use it as an adverb, which would trigger inversion (..., dus weigert ze...), but the straight word order used here is completely correct and very common.
Aanvaarden starts with aan-. Why isn't the te placed in the middle as aan te vaarden?
Unlike most verbs starting with aan- (like aankomen or aanbieden), aanvaarden is completely inseparable. You can hear this because the vocal stress falls on the second syllable (aan-VAAR-den). Because it never separates, the word stays whole and te is simply placed in front of it.
Could I just use accepteren instead of aanvaarden to mean "to accept"?
Yes, they are mostly interchangeable. Aanvaarden sounds slightly more formal and profound, making it an excellent choice for accepting heavy or abstract things like a tegenslag (setback), a fate, or a difficult reality. Accepteren is a bit more common in casual daily speech.
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