Breakdown of We proberen de beslissing te beïnvloeden om te mogen meewerken.
mogen
to be allowed to / may
proberen
to try
de beslissing
the decision
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
meewerken
to cooperate
beïnvloeden
to influence
Questions & Answers about We proberen de beslissing te beïnvloeden om te mogen meewerken.
In the phrase om te mogen meewerken, why doesn't te go right before the main verb meewerken?
This is the core rule for om ... te clauses with multiple verbs! When you have a modal or auxiliary verb (like mogen) helping a main verb (meewerken), the te must be placed immediately before the helping verb, rather than the main verb.
Since meewerken is a separable verb, could I also say om mee te mogen werken?
Yes, you can! Splitting the separable verb and placing its prefix (mee) before the rest of the verb cluster is very common in spoken Dutch. However, keeping the separable verb completely whole at the very end (te mogen meewerken) is also perfectly correct and often feels a bit more formal.
Why are proberen and te beïnvloeden separated by de beslissing?
The verb proberen (to try) triggers a te + infinitive construction. Because this first part is a standard main clause, the conjugated verb (proberen) takes the normal second position, which pushes the te + infinitive (te beïnvloeden) to the end of that specific clause. The direct object (de beslissing) naturally fills the space between them.
Why does the word beïnvloeden have a trema (two dots) on the 'i'?
The trema tells you to pronounce the 'e' and 'i' as two distinct syllables (be-in-vloe-den) instead of blending them into the typical Dutch ei sound. This spelling rule kicks in when a prefix ending in a vowel (like be-) is attached to a word starting with a vowel.
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