Learn Dutch: Het internationale verdrag is zo omstreden dat het debat doorgaat. - The international treaty is so controversial that the debate continues.

Het internationale verdrag is zo omstreden dat het debat doorgaat.

The international treaty is so controversial that the debate continues.

Breakdown of Het internationale verdrag is zo omstreden dat het debat doorgaat.

zijn

to be

so (to such a degree)

dat

that (conjunction)

doorgaan

to continue / to go on

Questions & Answers about Het internationale verdrag is zo omstreden dat het debat doorgaat.

This sentence uses zo ... dat to show a result. How could we rewrite the scenario to use a concessive connector like niettemin?

Zo ... dat shows cause and effect (it is so controversial that...). To use niettemin (nevertheless), we need a contrast instead of a direct result. For example, if the treaty was already finalized but people kept arguing, you could say: Het verdrag is ondertekend, niettemin gaat het debat door. (The treaty has been signed; nevertheless, the debate continues.) Note that niettemin usually triggers word order inversion (gaat het).

Why is doorgaat written as a single word at the end of the sentence?

Doorgaan (to continue) is a separable verb. In a normal main clause, it splits (e.g., het debat gaat door). However, the word dat introduces a subordinate clause, which forces the conjugated verb to the end of the sentence. When a separable verb is pushed to the end of a subordinate clause, its prefix and core verb reconnect into a single word: doorgaat.

Verdrag is a neuter (het) noun. Why does the adjective get an -e ending (internationale)?

You only drop the -e ending for neuter nouns when they are indefinite (preceded by een, geen, or no article at all). Because this sentence uses the definite article het, the adjective follows the standard rule and takes the -e ending, resulting in het internationale verdrag.