Breakdown of De tafels stonden dichtbij elkaar, maar zij liep er makkelijk tussendoor.
zij
she
maar
but
lopen
to walk
de tafel
the table
staan
to stand
makkelijk
easy
dichtbij
nearby
elkaar
each other
ertussendoor
between it
Questions & Answers about De tafels stonden dichtbij elkaar, maar zij liep er makkelijk tussendoor.
What is the difference between using "tussen" and "tussendoor" here?
Tussen just means "between", indicating a location. If you said zij liep ertussen, it sounds like she was simply walking back and forth in the space between the tables. By adding door (through), tussendoor describes a clear trajectory: she navigated through the gap between the tables to get to the other side.
How does "er" work with "tussendoor" in this sentence?
In Dutch, you can't say tussendoor ze (between/through them) after a preposition when referring to inanimate objects like tables. Instead, the pronoun becomes er, which attaches to the front of the complex preposition to form the pronominal adverb ertussendoor (literally: "there-between-through").
Why are "er" and "tussendoor" separated by "makkelijk"?
Pronominal adverbs like ertussendoor are very frequently split in Dutch sentences. The er part likes to jump to the front of the clause (right after the conjugated verb liep), while the prepositional part (tussendoor) gets pushed to the end. Extra information, like the adverb makkelijk (easily), naturally gets sandwiched in the middle.
Why does the sentence use "stonden" instead of "waren" for the tables?
While an English speaker might default to "The tables were close to each other", Dutch heavily prefers positional verbs to describe where things are located. Because tables rest upright on legs, they "stand" (staan). Using waren wouldn't be completely wrong, but stonden sounds much more natural and is what a native speaker would use.
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