Breakdown of Niet dat ik ondankbaar ben, maar ik heb wat commentaar.
ik
I
zijn
to be
niet
not
maar
but
hebben
to have
dat
that (conjunction)
wat
something / some (a little)
ondankbaar
ungrateful
het commentaar
the comment / the feedback
Questions & Answers about Niet dat ik ondankbaar ben, maar ik heb wat commentaar.
Why is the verb ben at the very end of the first clause?
The phrase Niet dat (Not that) acts as a subordinating conjunction here. It introduces a subordinate clause, which means the conjugated verb (ben) gets pushed to the end of that clause, right before the comma.
After the comma, why isn't the word order inverted to heb ik?
The word maar (but) is a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions don't affect word order, so the clause that follows it keeps the standard Subject-Verb order (ik heb). Even though there is a preceding clause, maar essentially resets the sentence structure.
The translation says "comments" plural, but commentaar looks singular. Can I make it plural?
In Dutch, commentaar is generally used as an uncountable noun, much like "feedback" or "criticism" in English. So even if you have multiple points to make, you still use the singular form wat commentaar (some feedback/comments).
Could I use enkele instead of wat here to mean "some"?
No, because commentaar is uncountable. You use wat for "some" with uncountable nouns. The word enkele means "a few" and is only used with plural, countable nouns.
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