Word
Wie de moraal begrijpt, verzamelt geen veren.
Meaning
Whoever understands the moral, does not collect feathers.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Wie de moraal begrijpt, verzamelt geen veren.
geen
no / not any
begrijpen
to understand
wie
who
verzamelen
to gather
Questions & Answers about Wie de moraal begrijpt, verzamelt geen veren.
Why don't we need a subject like hij or die right after the comma?
The word wie here functions as "whoever" or "the person who," creating what is called a free relative clause. The entire first half of the sentence (Wie de moraal begrijpt) acts as the complete subject for the second half. Because that whole clause is the subject, the verb verzamelt already has its subject, and adding hij or die is unnecessary and incorrect.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with the verb verzamelt?
This is the classic Dutch V2 (verb-second) rule in action. The entire first clause (Wie de moraal begrijpt) acts as a single block that occupies the first position of the main sentence. To keep the main verb in the second position, verzamelt must come immediately after the comma.
Why is the verb begrijpt pushed to the end of the first clause?
The first part of the sentence is a subordinate clause introduced by the relative pronoun wie. In Dutch, subordinate clauses push the conjugated verb (begrijpt) to the very end of that specific clause, placing it right before the comma.
Why do we use geen veren instead of niet veren to mean "does not collect feathers"?