Breakdown of Niemand is onfeilbaar, ook al meent hij perfect te zijn.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
niemand
no one
te
to (infinitive marker)
ook al
even if / even though
perfect
perfect
menen
to claim / to believe (to be true)
onfeilbaar
infallible
Questions & Answers about Niemand is onfeilbaar, ook al meent hij perfect te zijn.
How does meent ... te zijn translate to 'claims to be'? Doesn't menen usually mean 'to think' or 'to mean'?
While menen can mean 'to mean' or 'to be of the opinion', using it in the menen + te + infinitive structure specifically expresses a strong subjective claim. Hij meent perfect te zijn implies he sincerely believes, and therefore claims, that he is perfect, even if others disagree.
Why does the verb come right after ook al (ook al meent hij) instead of going to the end of the clause?
Ook al (even though / even if) acts a bit uniquely compared to other subordinating conjunctions. It occupies the first position in its clause, which triggers inversion. This means the verb (meent) comes immediately before the subject (hij), rather than being pushed to the very end like it would be after hoewel (although).
Why do we use hij (he) to refer back to niemand (no one)?
In Dutch, indefinite pronouns like niemand (nobody), iemand (somebody), and iedereen (everybody) are grammatically singular. When referring back to them later in a sentence, the default generic pronoun is the singular hij (he).
Is there a way to easily remember the meaning of the word onfeilbaar?
Yes, you can break it down into recognizable parts: the prefix on- (un-), the stem of the old verb feilen (to fail or to make a mistake), and the suffix -baar (-able). It literally translates to 'un-fail-able', or infallible.
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