Word
Het is dat dit etentje erg ongelegen komt, anders was ik zeker gekomen.
Meaning
It's just that this dinner is very inconvenient, otherwise I certainly would have come.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Het is dat dit etentje erg ongelegen komt, anders was ik zeker gekomen.
ik
I
zijn
to be
komen
to come
erg
very / really
Questions & Answers about Het is dat dit etentje erg ongelegen komt, anders was ik zeker gekomen.
How exactly does Het is dat work in this sentence?
It translates to "It's just that..." or "The only reason is that...". It is used to give the specific reason why something did not happen. It introduces a subordinate clause (which is why the verb komt goes to the very end of that part), and it is almost always followed by an anders... (otherwise...) clause explaining what would have happened.
Is ongelegen komt a fixed expression?
Yes, ongelegen komen means "to be inconvenient" or "to come at a bad time". You can use it for visits, phone calls, or events like this dinner (etentje). For example, if you want to say "Am I interrupting?" when you call or visit someone, a very natural way to ask is "Kom ik ongelegen?"
Why is the word order anders was ik instead of anders ik was?
The word anders (otherwise) occupies the first position in this second clause. Because this is a main clause, the conjugated verb must always take the second position (the V2 rule). Therefore, the verb was comes immediately after anders, pushing the subject ik to the third position.
The English translation says "would have come", so why does the Dutch use was ... gekomen instead of zou ... zijn gekomen?