Breakdown of Zonder het citaat is het document nutteloos voor hen.
zijn
to be
het document
the document
hen
them (object)
voor
for (on behalf of)
zonder
without
nutteloos
useless
het citaat
the quote
Questions & Answers about Zonder het citaat is het document nutteloos voor hen.
Why does this sentence use hen instead of hun?
In formal written Dutch, you always use hen when the pronoun comes directly after a preposition. Here, it follows the preposition voor. You only use hun for an indirect object when there is no preposition (for example, when "to them" or "for them" is simply implied by the verb).
Could I drop the word voor and just use hun here, like "... is het document nutteloos hun"?
No, that doesn't work. While hun can act as an indirect object meaning "for them" or "to them", the adjective nutteloos structurally requires the preposition voor to connect to the people it affects. Because the preposition cannot be dropped here, you must use voor hen.
Why is the verb is placed before the subject het document?
This is due to inversion. The sentence starts with the prepositional phrase Zonder het citaat. In Dutch main clauses, the conjugated verb must always sit in the second position. Since the first position is taken by the "without" phrase, the verb is comes second, pushing the subject het document to the third position.
Why is there an extra -te- in the word nutteloos? Why not just nutloos?
The word is built from the noun het nut (the use or benefit) and the suffix -loos (-less). The -te- is a linking element (tussenklank) that is sometimes inserted in Dutch between a root word and a suffix. It doesn't add any meaning; it is just there to make the word easier to pronounce.
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