Breakdown of Door de paniek vergeet hij of de haai levensgevaarlijk is.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
vergeten
to forget
of
if / whether
door
because of / due to
de paniek
the panic
levensgevaarlijk
life-threatening
de haai
the shark
Questions & Answers about Door de paniek vergeet hij of de haai levensgevaarlijk is.
Why is it vergeet hij and not hij vergeet?
The sentence starts with the prepositional phrase Door de paniek. In Dutch, when any element other than the subject takes the first position, the verb must come second (the V2 rule). This forces the subject hij to invert and move immediately after the verb vergeet.
Does of mean "or" or "whether" here, and how can I tell?
Here, of means "whether" (or "if"). You can tell because it acts as a subordinating conjunction, which pushes the verb is to the very end of the clause. When of means "or" (connecting two main clauses), it does not change the word order.
Could I use wegens instead of door to mean "due to"?
Yes, wegens (due to / because of) would also work and means almost the same thing. However, door is much more common in everyday speech for expressing a direct cause (the panic caused him to forget), while wegens can sound slightly more formal or administrative.
How is the word levensgevaarlijk formed?
It is a compound made from leven (life) and gevaarlijk (dangerous), joined by the connecting letter -s-. It literally translates to "life-dangerous," which is the standard Dutch equivalent for "life-threatening" or "lethal."
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