Word
We pakken het project stapsgewijs aan.
Meaning
We tackle the project step by step.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of We pakken het project stapsgewijs aan.
wij
we
het project
the project
het
it
aanpakken
to tackle / to approach
Questions & Answers about We pakken het project stapsgewijs aan.
How is the adverb stapsgewijs formed here?
It comes from the noun stap (step). We add a linking -s- and the suffix -gewijs, which means 'in the manner of' or 'by proportion'. Together, stapsgewijs forms an adverb of manner meaning 'step by step' or 'gradually'.
Is there a difference between stapsgewijs and stapsgewijze?
In modern Dutch, they mean exactly the same thing. The suffix -gewijze is just an older, slightly more formal variant of -gewijs. For a word like this, stapsgewijs is the standard, everyday choice.
Could I just say stap voor stap instead of using the -gewijs suffix?
Yes, absolutely! We pakken het project stap voor stap aan is very common and completely natural. Stapsgewijs simply offers a more concise, slightly more professional alternative that translates well to 'gradually' or 'incrementally'.
Why does aan appear at the very end of the sentence?
This is because the verb here is aanpakken (to tackle or to approach), which is a separable verb. In a standard main clause in the present tense, the conjugated part (pakken) takes the second position, and the separable prefix (aan) gets kicked to the very end of the clause.