Learn Dutch: Wat men ook op de akker verbergt, de schatzoeker zal erop stuiten. - Whatever one hides on the farmland, the treasure hunter will stumble upon it.

Normally, starting a sentence with a subclause forces the main clause to invert (putting the verb before the subject). However, universal concessive clauses like Wat men ook... are an exception. They do not trigger inversion, so the main clause keeps its standard subject-verb order: de schatzoeker zal.

How does the wat ... ook structure work here?

This structure translates to "whatever". It is formed using a question word like wat (what), followed by the subject men (one), the word ook (ever), and finishes with the verb at the end (verbergt). You can use this exact same pattern with wie (whoever) or waar (wherever).

Why is it erop stuiten instead of op het stuiten?

The verb stuiten is paired with the preposition op to mean "stumble upon". In Dutch, when a preposition like op refers back to a non-living thing (whatever was hidden), you must combine er with the preposition. Thus, op het becomes the pronominal adverb erop.

Does stuiten always mean "to stumble upon"?