Breakdown of Ik geloof natuurlijk niet in die bovennatuurlijke vloek.
ik
I
niet
not
in
in
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
Questions & Answers about Ik geloof natuurlijk niet in die bovennatuurlijke vloek.
Why does natuurlijk come before niet in this sentence?
Natuurlijk is a sentence-level adverb of evaluation, meaning it expresses your opinion about the entire statement. In the Dutch middle field, these evaluative adverbs almost always come before the negation niet. If you placed niet first, it would negate the adverb itself, implying you do believe in the curse, just not in a natural way!
Can natuurlijk also mean "of course"?
Absolutely. While translated here as "naturally," in everyday Dutch natuurlijk is the standard way to say "of course." Translating it as "Of course, I do not believe in that supernatural curse" is perfectly fine and often preferred.
Is geloven in used exactly like "believe in" in English?
Yes! When you are talking about the existence of something (like a curse or ghosts), you use geloven in. If you simply believe what someone is saying, you drop the preposition, just like in English: ik geloof je (I believe you).
Why does bovennatuurlijke end with an -e?
This is a quick refresher on adjective endings. Because vloek (curse) is a de-word, any adjective in front of it gets an -e. We know it is a de-word here because it uses the demonstrative pronoun die instead of dat.