Breakdown of Hij zal haar wel in de pols knijpen.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
in
in
haar
her
zullen
shall / will
wel
indeed, surely (contrastive particle)
de pols
the wrist
knijpen
to pinch
Questions & Answers about Hij zal haar wel in de pols knijpen.
Why doesn't the sentence say in haar pols?
This sentence uses a structure called the possessive shift. When an action happens to a body part, Dutch often makes the "owner" an object pronoun (haar) and uses a definite article for the body part (de pols). It literally translates to He will pinch her in the wrist, which sounds much more natural in Dutch than using the possessive pronoun haar.
Why use the preposition in here instead of op?
English says on the wrist, but Dutch uses in with the verb knijpen (to pinch). Dutch visualizes the action of pinching as going into the flesh or tissue, making it in de pols knijpen.
What role is the word wel playing here?
Wel is a modal particle that softens the statement. Without it, Hij zal haar in de pols knijpen is a hard, certain prediction (He will pinch her). Adding wel turns it into an assumption or expectation, best translated as probably, likely, or I suppose.
Why is knijpen placed at the very end of the sentence?
This is a quick refresher on standard Dutch word order: when you use an auxiliary verb like zal (will), it takes the second position in the sentence. This forces the main infinitive verb, which is knijpen (to pinch), all the way to the end of the clause.
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