Breakdown of Als ik onhandig was, zou ik over elke stoel struikelen.
ik
I
zijn
to be
de stoel
the chair
zullen
shall / will
Questions & Answers about Als ik onhandig was, zou ik over elke stoel struikelen.
Why do we use the past tense was here when describing a general trait?
This sentence describes a hypothetical or unreal situation. Just like English uses the past tense for this ("If I were clumsy..."), Dutch uses the simple past tense was combined with zou (would) to express that this isn't actually true.
Why does the main clause start with zou ik instead of ik zou?
The entire first clause (Als ik onhandig was) acts as the first grammatical block of the sentence. Because Dutch strictly follows the verb-second rule in main clauses, the finite verb (zou) must take the second position, pushing the subject (ik) right behind it.
Are over and struikelen a fixed combination here?
Yes, the standard phrase is struikelen over (to trip over). Because the auxiliary verb zou pushes the main action verb (struikelen) to the very end of the sentence, it temporarily gets separated from its object and preposition (over elke stoel).
Could I form this exact conditional sentence without using the word als?
Yes! At your level, you will increasingly see conditionals formed by dropping als and starting the first clause with the verb instead. You could rephrase this sentence perfectly as: Was ik onhandig, (dan) zou ik over elke stoel struikelen.