De manager verspreekt zich altijd, vandaar dat hij nerveus stottert.

Questions & Answers about De manager verspreekt zich altijd, vandaar dat hij nerveus stottert.

How does vandaar dat affect the word order in the second half of the sentence?
The phrase vandaar dat translates to "which is why" or "hence" and acts as a subordinating conjunction. The word dat forces the conjugated verb (stottert) to the very end of the clause.
Could I use daarom instead of vandaar dat?
Yes, but it changes the word order. daarom is a regular adverb, so it triggers an inversion (Verb-Subject) in a new main clause: ..., daarom stottert hij nerveus. Because vandaar dat contains dat, it creates a subordinate clause pushing the verb to the end: ..., vandaar dat hij nerveus stottert.
Why is the word zich in this sentence?
It belongs to the verb zich verspreken, which means "to misspeak" or "to make a slip of the tongue." It is a reflexive verb, so it requires a reflexive pronoun. Since the subject de manager is third-person singular, we use zich.
Why doesn't the ver- part of verspreekt split off to the end of the clause?
Verbs starting with the unstressed prefixes ver-, be-, ge-, ont-, and er- are inseparable. This means the prefix never splits from the core verb, which is why we say verspreekt zich instead of spreekt zich ver.

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