Breakdown of Aangezien het erg druk is, zonderen velen zich af.
zijn
to be
veel
much / many / a lot of
erg
very / really
het
it
Questions & Answers about Aangezien het erg druk is, zonderen velen zich af.
Why does vele get an -n at the end to become velen in this sentence?
This is the independent plural suffix for people. Because velen stands completely on its own without a noun after it, and it refers to humans ("many people"), it gets the -n. If it referred to things, or if you explicitly added a noun right after it like vele mensen, you would drop the -n.
Why is the verb zonderen placed immediately after the comma instead of the subject velen?
This is due to word order inversion. The entire dependent clause (Aangezien het erg druk is) occupies the first position of the main sentence. To keep the main conjugated verb (zonderen) in the second position, the subject (velen) must come immediately after it.
How does the verb zich afzonderen split up in this sentence?
Zich afzonderen (to isolate oneself) is a separable reflexive verb. Because it functions as the conjugated verb in the main clause, it splits. The core verb (zonderen) takes the V2 position right after the introductory clause, while the prefix (af) moves to the very end of the sentence. The reflexive pronoun (zich) follows the subject.
Does aangezien trigger the same word order as omdat?