Breakdown of Hij zal zich de gênante situatie wel herinneren, vandaar dat hij bloost.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
zullen
shall / will
wel
indeed, surely (contrastive particle)
dat
that (conjunction)
zich herinneren
to remember
de situatie
the situation
vandaar
hence
blozen
to blush
gênant
embarrassing
Questions & Answers about Hij zal zich de gênante situatie wel herinneren, vandaar dat hij bloost.
Why does the verb bloost come at the end of the second clause?
The phrase vandaar dat acts as an explanatory subordinating conjunction (similar to omdat or zodat). The word dat is the trigger that sends the conjugated verb (bloost) to the end of the clause. If you were to use vandaar on its own without dat, it would act as an adverb and trigger inversion instead: vandaar bloost hij.
How does zal ... wel translate to 'probably'? I thought zullen means 'will'.
While zullen often marks the future tense, combining it with the modal particle wel is a very common Dutch way to express a strong assumption or probability. Instead of 'he will remember', the combination zal ... wel translates closer to 'he must remember' or 'he probably remembers'.
Why is zich placed before de gênante situatie?
The verb zich herinneren (to remember) is reflexive, so it requires the reflexive pronoun zich. In a main clause with an auxiliary verb like zal, the reflexive pronoun typically goes as early as possible in the middle part of the sentence, right after the conjugated verb and the subject.
The word gênante looks French. How does it follow Dutch grammar rules here?
Dutch borrows many words from French, keeping their original spelling and rough pronunciation. Because situatie is a de-word, the adjective gênant simply gets the standard -e ending when it is placed directly before the noun.
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