Breakdown of Toen de jongens kattenkwaad uithaalden, waarschuwde de buurman de politie.
de jongen
the boy
de buurman
the neighbor (male)
waarschuwen
to warn
de politie
the police
toen
when / then (in the past)
het kattenkwaad
the mischief
uithalen
to pull (a trick) / to make (mischief)
Questions & Answers about Toen de jongens kattenkwaad uithaalden, waarschuwde de buurman de politie.
Why is toen used here instead of als?
Toen is used for a single, specific event in the past (or a continuous period in the past). Here, it means that on this specific occasion when the boys caused mischief, the neighbor called the police. If this were a repeated habit in the past ('Whenever the boys got up to mischief...'), you would use als instead.
What does kattenkwaad uithalen mean literally?
It translates to 'getting up to mischief' or 'pulling pranks'. Kattenkwaad literally means 'cat's evil', which is a fun old compound word for childish mischief. The separable verb uithalen is used here in the sense of pulling a trick or getting up to something.
Why does the main clause start with the verb waarschuwde?
This is due to the V2 (verb second) rule. The entire subordinate clause (Toen de jongens kattenkwaad uithaalden) takes up the first position in the sentence. Therefore, the main verb (waarschuwde) must immediately follow it in the second position, moving the subject (de buurman) after the verb.
Is de politie waarschuwen the normal way to say 'call the police' in Dutch?
Yes! While you could also say de politie bellen, de politie waarschuwen (literally 'to warn the police') is a very common standard phrase in Dutch for notifying the authorities about an incident.
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