Breakdown of Sinds hij ziek is, neemt hij zich voor minder te werken.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
werken
to work
ziek
sick
minder
less / fewer
te
to (infinitive marker)
sinds
since
zich voornemen
to intend
Questions & Answers about Sinds hij ziek is, neemt hij zich voor minder te werken.
How does the te + infinitive clause (minder te werken) relate to the main clause here?
It replaces a full dat-clause. Because the subject of the main clause (hij) is the same person who will do the working, we can shorten the sentence. Instead of saying ..., neemt hij zich voor dat hij minder gaat werken, we drop the second hij and use minder te werken. This shortened structure is exactly what a beknopte bijzin (concise subordinate clause) is.
Why does the Dutch sentence use the present tense (hij ziek is) when the English translation says "he has been sick"?
In Dutch, if an action or state started in the past and is still continuing in the present, you use the present tense. Because he is still sick now, Dutch uses the present tense with sinds (since), whereas English requires the present perfect ("has been").
What is the infinitive form of the verb in the main clause, and why is it split up?
The verb is zich voornemen (to intend / to resolve). It is both a reflexive verb (using the pronoun zich) and a separable verb. Because it is the conjugated verb in the main clause, the prefix voor splits off and moves to the end of that clause, right before the te-infinitive phrase begins.
Why does the verb neemt come immediately after the comma?
This is due to the standard verb-second (V2) rule in Dutch. The entire subordinate clause (Sinds hij ziek is) counts as the first block of information in the sentence. To keep the conjugated verb in the second position, neemt must come next, causing an inversion where the subject (hij) is pushed after the verb.
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