Breakdown of De onderhandelaar adviseert de man om de gijzelaar water te geven.
de man
the man
het water
the water
geven
to give
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
adviseren
to advise
de gijzelaar
the hostage
de onderhandelaar
the negotiator
Questions & Answers about De onderhandelaar adviseert de man om de gijzelaar water te geven.
Who is actually performing the action te geven (to give) in this sentence?
The action is performed by de man. The main verb adviseert (advises) takes an object (de man). Because he receives the advice, he is the one who will carry out the action in the infinitive clause. This structure is called object control, because the object of the main clause controls the action of the second clause.
Is the word om strictly required in this sentence?
No, it is optional. With verbs of advising, ordering, or persuading like adviseren, you can leave it out. Saying De onderhandelaar adviseert de man de gijzelaar water te geven is perfectly correct, though adding om helps to clearly separate the main clause from the infinitive clause.
Why is the word order de gijzelaar water instead of water de gijzelaar?
This follows the standard Dutch rule for double objects. When you have an indirect object (de gijzelaar, the receiver) and a direct object (water, the thing being given) that are both nouns, the indirect object comes first. The infinitive verb te geven is then pushed to the very end of the clause.
Both onderhandelaar and gijzelaar end in -aar. Does this mean they both perform an action?
Normally, the -aar suffix indicates the person performing the verb, just like onderhandelaar (negotiator) comes from onderhandelen (to negotiate). However, gijzelaar (hostage) is a notoriously tricky exception! Even though gijzelen means to take someone hostage, a gijzelaar is the victim. The hostage-taker is instead called a gijzelnemer.
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