Na het feest verkleedde de bruid zich meteen.
After the party, the bride changed clothes immediately.
Breakdown of Na het feest verkleedde de bruid zich meteen.
het feest
the party
meteen
immediately
na
after (preposition)
de bruid
the bride
Questions & Answers about Na het feest verkleedde de bruid zich meteen.
Why is zich placed after de bruid rather than right after the verb verkleedde?
Because starting the sentence with the time phrase Na het feest triggers inversion, placing the verb verkleedde before the subject de bruid. In Dutch, a reflexive pronoun like zich is never allowed to interrupt the verb and a full-noun subject. It must come immediately after the subject.
Would the word order change if the subject was the pronoun ze instead of the noun de bruid?
Why is the reflexive pronoun zich required here when English just says "changed clothes"?
The Dutch verb zich verkleden is inherently reflexive when you are changing your own clothes or dressing yourself up. Without zich, the verb verkleden would mean changing the clothes of someone else.
Why is verkleedde spelled with a double 'd'?