Breakdown of De klant was echter teleurgesteld toen ik het ontwerp pitchte.
ik
I
zijn
to be
het
it
de klant
the customer
teleurgesteld
disappointed
toen
when / then (in the past)
echter
however
het ontwerp
the design
pitchen
to pitch
Questions & Answers about De klant was echter teleurgesteld toen ik het ontwerp pitchte.
Why is the past tense of the English loanword pitchen spelled pitchte with a t in this sentence?
Dutch applies standard past tense rules to English loanwords. The stem of the verb is pitch. Because the stem ends in the voiceless consonant sound ch, which is covered by the 't kofschip rule, you add -te to form the singular past tense.
Why is echter (however) placed after the verb instead of at the beginning of the sentence?
While English often starts a sentence with "However, ...", Dutch usually places echter later in the sentence, typically right after the finite verb (was). You can put echter at the very beginning, but it cannot be separated by a comma like in English; it would occupy the first position and trigger word order inversion (Echter was de klant...).
Why does the verb pitchte go at the very end of the sentence?
The word toen (when) is a subordinating conjunction used for past events. It introduces a subordinate clause (toen ik het ontwerp pitchte), which forces the conjugated verb (pitchte) to the very end of that clause.
Why is the ge- located in the middle of the word teleurgesteld (disappointed)?
Teleurgesteld is the past participle of the separable verb teleurstellen (to disappoint), used here as an adjective. For separable verbs, the -ge- prefix is wedged directly between the separable prefix (teleur-) and the verb stem (-steld).
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