Breakdown of Zodra de roddel ongegrond bleek, verdween de betweter.
verdwijnen
to disappear
zodra
as soon as
blijken
to turn out / to appear
de roddel
the gossip
de betweter
the know-it-all (noun)
ongegrond
unfounded
Questions & Answers about Zodra de roddel ongegrond bleek, verdween de betweter.
Why is bleek at the end of the first clause, and why does verdween come before de betweter?
Zodra (as soon as) is a subordinating conjunction, which pushes the verb bleek to the end of its clause. Because the whole sentence starts with this subordinate clause, the main clause that follows must use inversion (verb first), so we get verdween de betweter instead of de betweter verdween.
This lesson covers claims with menen (to claim or believe). How does bleek (blijken) compare to menen, lijken, and schijnen?
While menen expresses what someone firmly believes to be true, blijken means something is actually backed up by evidence (it turned out to be fact). This contrasts with lijken (it seems that way based on a personal impression) and schijnen (it is rumored to be true).
How is the word betweter (know-it-all) formed?
It is a compound of beter (better) and the verb weten (to know). Literally, it translates to a "better-knower"—someone who acts like they know better than everyone else.
Could I use zodra als instead of just zodra here?
No, just zodra is correct. While Dutch uses the structure zo [adjective] als for comparisons (like zo snel als - as fast as), the fixed conjunction for "as soon as" is simply zodra.
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