Breakdown of Dat detail is niet alleen belangrijk, maar ook doorslaggevend.
zijn
to be
ook
also / -ever (concessive particle)
niet
not
maar
but
dat
that (het-words)
belangrijk
important
alleen
alone; only
het detail
the detail
doorslaggevend
decisive
Questions & Answers about Dat detail is niet alleen belangrijk, maar ook doorslaggevend.
The current lesson is about using menen + te + infinitive. How would I say "He claims that detail is decisive" using this structure?
You actually can't use the te + infinitive structure for that! You can only use menen + te + infinitive when the subject of the claim is the same as the person making it (e.g., "He claims to be decisive" = Hij meent doorslaggevend te zijn). Because "He" and "that detail" are different subjects, you cannot use the infinitive and must use a standard dat-clause instead: Hij meent dat dat detail doorslaggevend is.
How is the word doorslaggevend formed?
It comes from the noun phrase de doorslag geven, which literally translates to "giving the deciding weight" (referring to a scale tipping). By combining the words and adding -d to make a present participle, it becomes the adjective doorslaggevend, meaning "decisive" or "crucial".
Does the correlative conjunction niet alleen ... maar ook (not only ... but also) affect word order?
No, because maar is a coordinating conjunction (just like en or want). It sits in "position zero" and doesn't push any verbs to the end of the clause. In this sentence, it simply links two adjectives (belangrijk and doorslaggevend) without needing a new verb at all.
Why is it dat detail instead of die detail?
Detail is a neuter noun (het detail), so you must use dat for "that" and dit for "this". As a bonus pronunciation tip: remember that this word retains its French pronunciation in Dutch (/deːˈtɑj/, rhyming roughly with English "day-tie").
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