Breakdown of Stel dat we de financiering niet krijgen.
niet
not
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
krijgen
to get (receive)
stel dat
suppose that / imagine that
Questions & Answers about Stel dat we de financiering niet krijgen.
Since stel is a verb meaning 'suppose', why does the rest of the sentence have the verb at the end?
The phrase stel dat acts as a subordinating conjunction. The word dat forces the following clause into subclause word order, which pushes the conjugated verb krijgen to the very end of the sentence.
Can I drop dat like we sometimes drop 'that' in English?
You can, but it changes the sentence structure. If you drop dat, the following phrase acts as a standard main clause rather than a subclause. You would have to say Stel we krijgen de financiering niet.
Could I use aangenomen dat here instead?
Grammatically yes, but the nuance shifts slightly. Stel dat translates to 'imagine that' or 'what if', which perfectly fits brainstorming a hypothetical problem. Aangenomen dat means 'assuming that', which sounds more like stating a formal, logical premise.
Why is niet placed immediately before krijgen?
In Dutch, niet generally comes after a specific direct object, which in this case is de financiering. Because this is a subclause, the verb krijgen is pushed to the very end, which naturally leaves niet positioned right in front of it.