Word
Qua afmetingen is de kamer goed, maar esthetisch gezien ontbreekt er iets.
Meaning
In terms of dimensions the room is good, but aesthetically speaking something is missing.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Qua afmetingen is de kamer goed, maar esthetisch gezien ontbreekt er iets.
zijn
to be
maar
but
de kamer
the room
goed
good
Questions & Answers about Qua afmetingen is de kamer goed, maar esthetisch gezien ontbreekt er iets.
Why is the word order is de kamer instead of de kamer is?
The phrase Qua afmetingen acts as an adverbial phrase of domain, telling us specifically in what respect the room is good. Because it takes the first position in the sentence, it triggers inversion, putting the verb (is) before the subject (de kamer).
Could I say qua esthetisch instead of esthetisch gezien?
No, because the preposition qua must be followed by a noun, like afmetingen (dimensions). Esthetisch is an adjective. To restrict a domain using an adjective, you pair it with gezien to mean 'aesthetically speaking'. If you really wanted to use qua, you would need the noun form: qua esthetica (in terms of aesthetics).
Why does esthetisch gezien cause inversion (ontbreekt er) if it comes right after maar?
Maar is a coordinating conjunction, which means it sits outside the structure of the clause and counts as position zero. The first actual element of the second clause is esthetisch gezien. Since this adverbial phrase is in position one, the verb (ontbreekt) must take position two, causing inversion.
Why do we need the word er in ontbreekt er iets?