Breakdown of Ik kom doorweekt aan, behalve als het stopt met plensen.
ik
I
met
with
het
it
stoppen
to stop
aankomen
to arrive
behalve als
except if / unless
plensen
to pour (rain)
doorweekt
soaked / drenched
Questions & Answers about Ik kom doorweekt aan, behalve als het stopt met plensen.
Since "behalve als" introduces a subordinate clause, shouldn't the verb go to the very end? Why is it "stopt met plensen" instead of "met plensen stopt"?
Behalve als does send the conjugated verb to the end of the clause, but prepositional phrases like met plensen are an exception. They can naturally be placed after the verb at the very end of the sentence. You could also say behalve als het met plensen stopt, but putting the prepositional phrase last often sounds a bit more relaxed.
Could I use "tenzij" instead of "behalve als" here?
Yes, you absolutely can. Tenzij and behalve als both mean "unless" and are usually interchangeable. Behalve als (literally "except if") is slightly more conversational and common in spoken everyday Dutch, while tenzij can sound just a tiny bit more formal.
The English translation says "I will arrive", but the Dutch sentence uses the present tense "Ik kom aan". Why is there no future tense verb?
In Dutch, the simple present tense is the standard way to talk about the future, as long as the context makes it clear the event hasn't happened yet. Using the future tense with zal (Ik zal doorweekt aankomen) would be grammatically correct but sounds unnecessarily formal or dramatic for this situation.
Why is "aan" placed right before the comma instead of next to "kom"?
It is the prefix of the separable verb aankomen (to arrive). In a standard main clause, the conjugated part (kom) takes the second position, and the separable prefix (aan) gets pushed to the very end of that specific clause, right before the comma introduces the new clause.
How does the grammar in the phrase "stopt met plensen" work?
To say you stop doing an action, Dutch uses stoppen met (to stop with) followed by an infinitive verb that acts as a noun. Here, plensen means to rain heavily or pour, so stopt met plensen translates literally as "stops with pouring".
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