Word
Het is gevaarlijk om van de kudde af te wijken.
Meaning
It is dangerous to deviate from the herd.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Het is gevaarlijk om van de kudde af te wijken.
zijn
to be
het
it
gevaarlijk
dangerous
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
Questions & Answers about Het is gevaarlijk om van de kudde af te wijken.
Why is te placed in the middle of the verb to form af te wijken?
Afwijken (to deviate) is a separable verb consisting of the prefix af and the verb wijken. Whenever you use a separable verb in a te + infinitive construction, the word te is inserted directly between the prefix and the verb root.
Why do we use the preposition van in this sentence?
The verb afwijken requires the fixed preposition van when you want to specify what is being deviated from. The combination is always afwijken van iets (to deviate from something).
Is the word om strictly necessary in this sentence?
Technically, sentences starting with Het is [adjective]... can sometimes drop om and just use the te + infinitive. However, using the full om ... te construction is highly preferred in modern Dutch and sounds much more natural, especially when the infinitive phrase contains extra objects or prepositional phrases.
Can kudde be used figuratively for people, just like 'herd' in English?
Yes. While it literally refers to a herd of animals like sheep or cows, kudde is frequently used figuratively in Dutch to describe a mass of people who conform blindly to the majority. In fact, a conformist is often referred to as a kuddedier (herd animal).