Word
Je moet de marge linksonder verkleinen om het te kunnen lezen.
Meaning
You must reduce the margin bottom left to be able to read it.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Je moet de marge linksonder verkleinen om het te kunnen lezen.
lezen
to read
het
it
kunnen
can
moeten
to have to, must
Questions & Answers about Je moet de marge linksonder verkleinen om het te kunnen lezen.
In English, we say 'bottom left', but the Dutch word is linksonder ('left-under'). Does the horizontal direction always come first?
Yes! When forming these compound locative adverbs in Dutch, you always put the horizontal direction (links, rechts) before the vertical one (boven, onder). So 'top right' is rechtsboven, and 'bottom left' is linksonder.
Why is te placed before kunnen instead of lezen in om het te kunnen lezen?
In an om... te... (in order to) structure that ends with a verb cluster, the te must go directly before the first verb in that cluster. Here, the cluster is kunnen lezen (to be able to read), so it becomes te kunnen lezen.
How does the prefix ver- work in the verb verkleinen?
It turns the adjective klein (small) into a verb meaning 'to make [adjective]'. By wrapping the adjective with ver- and -en, you get verkleinen (to make smaller / to reduce). You will see this pattern often, such as with groot (big) becoming vergroten (to enlarge).
Why does verkleinen come after linksonder in the first half of the sentence?