Word
De reorganisatie begint pas volgend jaar.
Meaning
The reorganization will not start until next year.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De reorganisatie begint pas volgend jaar.
beginnen
to begin
het jaar
the year
volgend
next
pas
only / not until (of time)
Questions & Answers about De reorganisatie begint pas volgend jaar.
Where is the word for "until" or the negative "not" in this Dutch sentence?
The heavy lifting is done by pas. When referring to time, pas means "only" or "not until." Therefore, begint pas volgend jaar literally translates to "starts only next year." Dutch uses this positive phrasing rather than a negative one to express that something is delayed.
Why use the present tense begint if the reorganization is happening next year?
In Dutch, the present tense is standard for future events as long as the sentence contains a clear time indicator. Because volgend jaar (next year) establishes the future timeframe, adding zal (will) is unnecessary and would actually sound less natural here.
Since this lesson involves prepositions, could I use a preposition like tot (until) here instead of pas?
No, that would completely change the meaning. If you said De reorganisatie begint tot volgend jaar, it would mean the act of starting takes an ongoing amount of time that stops next year. To express that an event won't happen before a certain time, you use the adverb pas, not a preposition.
Why isn't there a preposition like in before volgend jaar?