Breakdown of Hoe sneller het staakt-het-vuren begint, des te beter is het.
zijn
to be
snel
fast
beginnen
to begin
het
it
Questions & Answers about Hoe sneller het staakt-het-vuren begint, des te beter is het.
Why is the word order different in the two halves of the sentence?
This sentence uses the hoe ..., des te ... (the ..., the ...) structure. The first part (Hoe sneller het staakt-het-vuren begint) acts as a subordinate clause, pushing the verb (begint) to the end. The second part (des te beter is het) acts as a main clause where des te beter occupies the first position, causing inversion so the verb (is) comes before the subject (het).
Can I use hoe twice instead of hoe ..., des te ...?
Yes, saying Hoe sneller ..., hoe beter ... is very common in everyday spoken Dutch. However, using des te in the second clause is considered more formally correct and is standard in written Dutch. Notice that even if you use hoe twice, the word order rules (subordinate clause followed by inversion) remain exactly the same.
What kind of word is staakt-het-vuren and why does it have hyphens?
Staakt-het-vuren is a noun that literally translates to 'cease the fire'. It is formed by taking a whole command phrase and freezing it into a single neuter noun, which is why it uses the article het. Hyphens are required in Dutch when joining words of an entire phrase together to make a single noun.