Word
Wij hoorden dat de ceremoniemeester zich verslikte.
Meaning
We heard that the master of ceremonies choked.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Wij hoorden dat de ceremoniemeester zich verslikte.
wij
we
horen
to hear
dat
that (conjunction)
de ceremoniemeester
the master of ceremonies
Questions & Answers about Wij hoorden dat de ceremoniemeester zich verslikte.
Why can't we say dat zich de ceremoniemeester verslikte?
In Dutch, the reflexive pronoun (zich) cannot interrupt the link between the conjunction (dat) and the subject (de ceremoniemeester). Even with a long, full-noun subject, the subject must come first. Therefore, zich is strictly positioned after the subject in subordinate clauses.
Where would zich go if I added a time adverb like gisteren (yesterday) to the subordinate clause?
Zich typically stays right next to the subject, pushing other adverbs further back into the middle of the sentence. With an adverb, the sentence becomes: Wij hoorden dat de ceremoniemeester zich gisteren verslikte.
How does zich verslikken differ from the verb stikken (to choke)?
Zich verslikken is an inherently reflexive verb that specifically means to swallow the wrong way (down the wrong pipe) while eating, drinking, or speaking. Stikken is a non-reflexive verb used when someone is severely choking in the sense of suffocating or being deprived of air.
If I wanted to use the present perfect tense here, would the verb get a ge- prefix?