Word
De vip hoeft maar te roepen of er staan vijftien limousines klaar.
Meaning
The VIP only has to call out, and fifteen limousines stand ready.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De vip hoeft maar te roepen of er staan vijftien limousines klaar.
vijftien
fifteen
roepen
to call (shout)
er
there (existential)
hoeven
to need (to)
Questions & Answers about De vip hoeft maar te roepen of er staan vijftien limousines klaar.
Why is of translated as "and" in this sentence instead of "or"?
In this specific conditional structure—hoeft maar te [verb] of...—the word of acts as a link meaning "and immediately" or "and then". The whole phrase translates to "someone only needs to [do something], and [result happens]". It emphasizes how easily or quickly the result is triggered.
Does the word of change the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No, of is a coordinating conjunction (just like en or maar), meaning it connects two main clauses without affecting the word order of the second one. In the second clause, the dummy subject er takes the first position, so the verb staan stays in the standard second position.
Why do we use staan ... klaar instead of zijn ... klaar to say the limousines "are ready"?
While zijn klaar means "are finished" or "are ready", Dutch prefers compound verbs with positional verbs when describing physical objects. Klaarstaan means "to stand ready" or "to be ready and waiting". Because limousines are vehicles parked on the ground, staan is the natural choice.
Why does the second clause use er (er staan vijftien limousines klaar)?