Word
U hoeft maar met uw ogen te knipperen of wij vervullen uw wens.
Meaning
You only have to blink your eyes, and we fulfill your wish.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of U hoeft maar met uw ogen te knipperen of wij vervullen uw wens.
u
you (formal)
wij
we
met
with
uw
your (formal)
Questions & Answers about U hoeft maar met uw ogen te knipperen of wij vervullen uw wens.
How does the hoeft maar ... te ... of structure work in this sentence?
This is a special conditional structure. The verb hoeven combined with maar and a te-infinitive sets up a minimal condition, meaning 'all you need to do is'. The conjunction of then links it to the immediate result. Notice that while English translates this link as 'and' or 'then', Dutch strictly uses of.
Why do we need the word met in met uw ogen te knipperen?
In Dutch, the fixed expression for blinking is met je ogen knipperen (literally 'to blink with your eyes'). Unlike in English where you 'blink your eyes' directly, Dutch treats the eyes as the instrument used for the action, making met mandatory.
Why doesn't the word order invert after of? The sentence says of wij vervullen, not of vervullen wij.
Even though it acts as a 'then' or 'and' in this specific conditional expression, of remains a coordinating conjunction. Just like en or maar, it joins two independent main clauses without triggering word order inversion. Therefore, the second clause keeps the standard Subject-Verb order.
Could I place te earlier in the sentence, for instance right after maar?