Breakdown of Afgezien van de meterstand moeten we nog twee dingen noteren.
twee
two
moeten
to have to, must
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
nog
still, yet / more, another (with a quantity)
het ding
the thing
afgezien van
apart from
de meterstand
the meter reading
noteren
to note down
Questions & Answers about Afgezien van de meterstand moeten we nog twee dingen noteren.
Why does the verb moeten come right after de meterstand instead of the subject we?
Is afgezien a verb here?
Historically, yes. It is the past participle of the separable verb afzien (to look away from, to renounce). However, the combination afgezien van functions together as a fixed complex preposition meaning "apart from" or "setting aside".
Could I just use behalve instead of afgezien van in this sentence?
Yes, Behalve de meterstand... would work perfectly here and means almost exactly the same thing. Afgezien van is just a slightly more formal way to bracket a topic and set an exception aside before you get to your main point.
How does the word nog change the meaning of twee dingen?
By adding nog (still / yet), it implies that there are "still two things left" or "two more things" to note down, in addition to the meter reading. Without it, you would just be neutrally stating that two things must be noted.
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