Breakdown of Ik heb het voornemen om die slechte gewoonte af te leren.
ik
I
hebben
to have
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
slecht
bad
de gewoonte
the habit
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
het voornemen
the resolution / the intention (personal plan)
afleren
to unlearn / to break (a habit)
Questions & Answers about Ik heb het voornemen om die slechte gewoonte af te leren.
How would this sentence look if we used a dat clause instead of the om... te structure?
You could say: Ik heb het voornemen dat ik die slechte gewoonte afleer. However, because the subject of the main clause (ik) is the exact same as the person performing the action in the subclause, Dutch prefers this shorter infinitive clause (beknopte bijzin) using om... te.
Why is te placed in the middle of af and leren?
The verb afleren (to unlearn / to break a habit) is a separable verb. In a te + infinitive clause, the word te must be placed directly between the separable prefix (af) and the base verb (leren), written as three separate words: af te leren.
Is the word om strictly necessary here?
Yes. While some verbs (like proberen) can take a te + infinitive clause without om, the noun phrase het voornemen hebben (to have the intention/resolution) requires om... te to introduce the intended action.
Could I use stoppen met instead of afleren to mean breaking the habit?
Yes, but the sentence structure would change slightly. Because stoppen requires the preposition met, you would say: ... om met die slechte gewoonte te stoppen. Using afleren is often preferred here because it takes gewoonte directly as an object without needing an extra preposition.
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