Word
Niettemin stemt het parlement tegen de nieuwe wet.
Meaning
Nevertheless, the parliament is voting against the new law.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Niettemin stemt het parlement tegen de nieuwe wet.
nieuw
new
tegen
against / to (speaking to)
stemmen
to vote
de wet
the law
Questions & Answers about Niettemin stemt het parlement tegen de nieuwe wet.
Why is the word order stemt het parlement instead of het parlement stemt?
Because the sentence starts with niettemin. Niettemin is an adverbial connector, not a coordinating conjunction (like maar). When an adverb takes the first position in a main clause, the verb must come second to satisfy the V2 (verb-second) rule. This triggers inversion, pushing the subject (het parlement) immediately after the verb.
If I wanted to start the sentence with Het parlement, where would niettemin go?
It would go immediately after the conjugated verb: Het parlement stemt niettemin tegen de nieuwe wet. Because it acts as an adverb, it naturally falls into the middle part of the sentence when the subject takes the first position.
Is niettemin perfectly interchangeable with toch or desondanks?
In terms of meaning, yes; they all express concession like the English 'nevertheless' or 'despite that'. The main difference is tone. Niettemin is quite formal and fits well in written texts or news about politics (like this sentence). Toch is the go-to word for everyday speech, while desondanks sits somewhere in between.
A quick refresher: why is it nieuwe wet and not nieuw wet?