Word
Als het geen buitenspel was geweest, had ze de penalty genomen.
Meaning
If it had not been offside, she would have taken the penalty.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Als het geen buitenspel was geweest, had ze de penalty genomen.
zijn
to be
hebben
to have
geen
no / not any
nemen
to take (general, abstract, e.g., transport, medicine)
Questions & Answers about Als het geen buitenspel was geweest, had ze de penalty genomen.
Why does the second part say had ze de penalty genomen instead of using a word for 'would' like zou?
This sentence uses the Double Past Perfect structure for past counterfactuals. Instead of saying zou ze de penalty hebben genomen (would she have taken the penalty), Dutch speakers often just use another Past Perfect (had genomen) in the main clause. It means the exact same thing but is often preferred in spoken Dutch because it is shorter and more direct.
Why is the verb order was geweest at the end of the first clause, but had ze at the start of the second?
The first part is a dependent clause introduced by Als (if), which pushes its verbs to the end. Because this entire Als clause takes up the first position of the overall sentence, the main clause right after the comma must start with its verb (had) to follow the verb-second rule. This causes the subject and verb to invert to had ze.
Why do we use geen here instead of niet to say 'not offside'?
In Dutch, buitenspel (offside) is treated as a noun. When you negate an indefinite noun (a noun without 'the' or a possessive word attached to it), you must use geen (no/not any) instead of niet (not). Literally, it translates to 'if it had been no offside'.
Could I swap the verbs at the end of the first clause and say geweest was?