Breakdown of Ongeacht de blootstelling dienen we de consequenties te accepteren.
accepteren
to accept
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
te
to (infinitive marker)
dienen
to be obliged to
ongeacht
regardless of
de consequentie
the consequence
de blootstelling
the exposure
Questions & Answers about Ongeacht de blootstelling dienen we de consequenties te accepteren.
Does ongeacht need an extra preposition to mean 'regardless of'?
No, it doesn't. While in English you say 'regardless of', the Dutch preposition ongeacht directly connects to the noun it modifies. You just say ongeacht de blootstelling without adding a connecting word like van.
Why does this sentence use dienen te accepteren rather than just moeten accepteren?
Dienen te is a more formal and official-sounding way to say 'must' or 'have to', which matches the formal tone of ongeacht. The key grammatical difference to remember is that while the standard verb moeten is used without te, dienen always requires te before the infinitive at the end of the clause.
Why is the word order dienen we instead of we dienen?
Because the sentence starts with the prepositional phrase Ongeacht de blootstelling. Whenever you put a phrase that isn't the subject in the first position of a main clause, Dutch triggers inversion. The conjugated verb (dienen) must take the second position, pushing the subject (we) right behind it.
Is there a difference between using ongeacht and ondanks in this context?
Yes, there is a subtle but important difference. Ondanks means 'despite', implying the exposure is a known fact that we are working around. Ongeacht means 'regardless of' or 'irrespective of', which treats the exposure as a variable: no matter how much or how little exposure there was, the requirement remains the same.
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