Word
Het is belangrijk om internationaal samen te werken.
Meaning
It is important to cooperate internationally.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Het is belangrijk om internationaal samen te werken.
zijn
to be
het
it
belangrijk
important
samenwerken
to collaborate / to work together
Questions & Answers about Het is belangrijk om internationaal samen te werken.
Why is te placed between samen and werken?
Samenwerken (to cooperate) is a separable verb. When a separable verb is used with te, the te is sandwiched between the prefix (samen) and the base verb (werken). They are written as three separate words: samen te werken.
Is the word om strictly necessary in this sentence?
After phrases like Het is belangrijk (It is important), the word om is technically optional but highly recommended. Using the full om ... te construction sounds much more natural to native speakers and clearly frames the goal of the action.
Why doesn't internationaal get an -e ending here?
In this sentence, internationaal is acting as an adverb because it describes the verb samenwerken (how we cooperate), not a noun. In Dutch, adverbs always use the base, uninflected form of the adjective without an -e.
How would the word order change if I added a concessive connector like niettemin (nevertheless) to the beginning of this sentence?
Adding an adverbial connector at the very start of the sentence triggers inversion, swapping the subject (het) and the verb (is). It would become: Niettemin is het belangrijk om internationaal samen te werken.