Word
Ondanks dat het mislukt, doe ik een poging om te blijven oefenen.
Meaning
Despite the fact that it fails, I make an attempt to keep practicing.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ondanks dat het mislukt, doe ik een poging om te blijven oefenen.
ik
I
een
a/an
doen
to do
het
it
Questions & Answers about Ondanks dat het mislukt, doe ik een poging om te blijven oefenen.
Why is te placed before blijven instead of oefenen in the phrase om te blijven oefenen?
When you use an om ... te construction with multiple infinitives, the te always goes immediately before the first infinitive in the verbal chain. Here, blijven (to keep/remain) acts as an auxiliary verb to oefenen (to practice). Therefore, te must go right before blijven, not before the main verb.
Why use doe (from doen) instead of a translation of 'make' for 'make an attempt'?
In Dutch, certain collocations (fixed word combinations) differ from English. While English speakers 'make' an attempt, Dutch speakers 'do' an attempt. The standard expression is een poging doen. The verb maken is generally reserved for physically creating, crafting, or repairing something.
Why is it Ondanks dat instead of just Ondanks, and why does mislukt go at the end?
Ondanks by itself is a preposition meaning 'despite' (e.g., ondanks het weer - despite the weather). When you want to follow it with a full clause containing a subject and a verb ('despite the fact that it fails'), you must add dat. Because dat introduces a subordinate clause, it pushes the verb mislukt to the very end of that clause.
Why does the main clause start with doe ik instead of ik doe?