Breakdown of Die wispelturige kat hoeft niet binnen te blijven.
niet
not
de kat
the cat
binnen
inside
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
blijven
to stay
hoeven
to need (to)
te
to (infinitive marker)
wispelturig
fickle / capricious
Questions & Answers about Die wispelturige kat hoeft niet binnen te blijven.
Where is the correlative adverb structure from this lesson?
This sentence doesn't actually use dan weer ... dan weer, but it features the adjective wispelturige (fickle or unpredictable). A fickle cat is exactly the kind of animal whose behavior fluctuates, making it want to go dan weer binnen, dan weer buiten (sometimes inside, sometimes outside).
Why is te placed between binnen and blijven?
Binnenblijven (to stay inside) is a separable verb. When a separable verb is used in an infinitive structure that requires te (like after hoeft niet), the te squeezes right between the prefix (binnen) and the main verb (blijven), creating three separate words: binnen te blijven.
How does the hoeft niet ... te structure work here?
The verb hoeven is almost exclusively used with a negative word like niet or geen to mean 'does not have to'. When you link hoeven to another verb, you must use te before the infinitive. Therefore, hoeft niet binnen te blijven literally translates to 'does not have to stay inside'.
Why does wispelturig get an -e ending here?
As a quick refresher: kat is a de word. When an adjective comes before a noun that is pointed out by de, die, or deze, the adjective takes an -e ending. So the base word wispelturig becomes wispelturige.
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