Breakdown of Ze zeggen het reisplan is leuk, want de reistijd is kort.
zijn
to be
zeggen
to say
leuk
nice / fun
want
because
kort
short
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
de reistijd
the travel time
het reisplan
the travel plan
Questions & Answers about Ze zeggen het reisplan is leuk, want de reistijd is kort.
Why is the word order normal in het reisplan is leuk instead of sending the verb to the end?
This sentence drops the word dat (that), which is a common habit in spoken Dutch after verbs of speech or thought like zeggen (to say). When you omit dat, the clause is no longer treated as a subordinate clause, so it reverts to the standard V2 main clause word order instead of pushing the verb to the end.
Would it be wrong to include the word dat in this sentence?
Not at all! Including dat makes the sentence more formal and standard for written Dutch. However, if you add it back in, you must apply subordinate clause word order and move the verb to the end: Ze zeggen dat het reisplan leuk is.
Why does the verb stay in the second position after want?
The word want (because) is a coordinating conjunction, which means it links two independent main clauses. Main clauses always use the standard V2 word order. If you used the synonym omdat instead, it would act as a subordinating conjunction and push the verb to the end: omdat de reistijd kort is.
Both reisplan and reistijd start with reis, but one uses het and the other uses de. Why?
In Dutch compound nouns, the gender of the entire word is always determined by the very last part of the compound. Because het plan is a neuter word, it becomes het reisplan. Similarly, because de tijd takes de, the compound becomes de reistijd.
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