Word
Ik kijk niet naar de donkere grot, laat staan dat ik de vleermuis bestudeer.
Meaning
I do not look at the dark cave, let alone study the bat.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ik kijk niet naar de donkere grot, laat staan dat ik de vleermuis bestudeer.
ik
I
niet
not
naar
to
kijken
to watch
Questions & Answers about Ik kijk niet naar de donkere grot, laat staan dat ik de vleermuis bestudeer.
How does laat staan dat affect the word order in the second half of the sentence?
The phrase laat staan dat translates to let alone or let alone that. Because it ends with the subordinating conjunction dat, it forces the second part of the sentence into a subordinate clause. This means the conjugated verb bestudeer must be placed at the very end of the clause.
Why do we need to say dat ik instead of just translating let alone study directly?
In English, it is common to drop the subject in the second half of the sentence and just say let alone study. In Dutch, laat staan dat introduces a full subordinate clause, so you usually need to include the subject ik again and conjugate the verb to match.
Why is there an extra -e on donkere?
This is a quick refresher on adjective endings! Grot is a de word (de grot). When an adjective comes before a de noun and follows the definite article de, it receives an -e ending. Therefore, donker becomes donkere.
Why is niet placed right after the verb kijk instead of at the very end of the first clause?
When you negate a sentence containing a prepositional phrase (in this case, naar de donkere grot), the negative word niet usually goes directly before that preposition. It emphasizes that the action of looking towards the cave is what is being negated.