Word
Naarmate het brein groeit, gaat de geestelijke ontwikkeling sneller.
Meaning
As the brain grows, mental development goes faster.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Naarmate het brein groeit, gaat de geestelijke ontwikkeling sneller.
snel
fast
gaan
to go / to go off (of an alarm)
het
it
groeien
to grow
Questions & Answers about Naarmate het brein groeit, gaat de geestelijke ontwikkeling sneller.
How does the word naarmate affect the word order in the first part of the sentence?
Naarmate is a subordinating conjunction meaning "as" or "in proportion as." It introduces a dependent clause, which forces the verb to the end of that clause. While het brein groeit looks like normal Subject-Verb order, groeit is actually sitting in the final position. If you added another word, this rule would become visible: Naarmate het brein snel groeit...
Why does the second half of the sentence start with the verb gaat instead of the subject?
This is because of the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire first clause (Naarmate het brein groeit) occupies the first position in the sentence. Because the main verb must come second, the main clause immediately follows with its verb (gaat), resulting in an inversion of the subject and verb (gaat de geestelijke ontwikkeling).
Could I use terwijl instead of naarmate since both can translate to "as" in English?
They are not interchangeable here. Terwijl means "as" in the sense of "while" (simultaneous action or contrast). Naarmate specifically indicates a proportional change, meaning "in proportion as" or "as" when describing two things evolving together.
Why does geestelijke get an -e at the end?