Breakdown of Mocht het besturingssysteem het IP-adres weergeven, schrijf dit dan op.
mogen
to be allowed to / may
dit
this (neuter)
het
it
dan
then
opschrijven
to write down
weergeven
to display
het besturingssysteem
the operating system
het IP-adres
the IP address
Questions & Answers about Mocht het besturingssysteem het IP-adres weergeven, schrijf dit dan op.
Why does this sentence start with mocht instead of a word like als (if)?
Starting a sentence with mocht (the past tense of mogen) combined with an infinitive at the end of the clause (here, weergeven) is used to express a condition that the speaker thinks is relatively unlikely. It translates exactly to "Should..." in English. You could also say Als het besturingssysteem het IP-adres mocht weergeven, but putting mocht at the front and dropping als is a common and elegant shortcut.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with the verb schrijf?
This is a classic example of the Dutch V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire first conditional clause (Mocht het besturingssysteem het IP-adres weergeven) counts as the first block of information. Therefore, the main clause must immediately start with its verb (schrijf) to ensure the verb remains in the second position of the overall sentence.
What is the function of dan in the second clause?
Dan translates to "then". While in English we often skip it ("Should it display the address, write it down"), in Dutch it is highly typical to include dan in the result clause to strongly anchor it back to the preceding "if" or "should" condition.
Why is op separated and placed at the very end of the sentence?
The verb being used is the separable verb opschrijven (to write down). Because the main clause is an imperative (a direct command), the conjugated part (schrijf) takes the first available slot, and the separable prefix (op) is pushed all the way to the end of the sentence.
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