Breakdown of Je hoeft deze onbetrouwbare voorspelling alleen maar te negeren.
deze
this / these
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
alleen
alone; only
hoeven
to need (to)
te
to (infinitive marker)
negeren
to ignore
maar
just, go ahead (softening particle)
de voorspelling
the forecast
onbetrouwbaar
unreliable
Questions & Answers about Je hoeft deze onbetrouwbare voorspelling alleen maar te negeren.
How is the word onbetrouwbare formed in this sentence?
It is built from the adjective betrouwbaar (reliable). By adding the negative prefix on-, it becomes its opposite, onbetrouwbaar (unreliable). Because it is placed directly before the de-word voorspelling, it receives the standard -e adjective ending, resulting in onbetrouwbare.
Why does this sentence use hoeft instead of moet, considering hoeven is normally used in negative sentences?
You likely learned that hoeven te replaces moeten in negative sentences, such as je hoeft niet for 'you do not have to'. However, hoeven is also required with limiting words like alleen maar (only) or slechts (merely). So, for 'you only have to ignore', Dutch requires the phrase je hoeft alleen maar te negeren.
Why is te negeren placed at the very end of the sentence?
In a main clause, the conjugated verb (hoeft) sits in the second position, while all other verbs are pushed to the end. When using the hoeven te construction, the word te must stay directly in front of the infinitive it belongs to (negeren), forming the final verb block.
How do we know to use deze instead of dit for the word voorspelling?
The noun voorspelling (prediction) ends in the suffix -ing. In Dutch, almost all nouns created with the -ing suffix are de-words. Because of this, it takes the demonstrative pronoun deze (this) rather than the het-word equivalent dit.
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