Breakdown of Nadat we de tol hebben betaald, tanken we bij zodat we verder kunnen rijden.
wij
we
hebben
to have
betalen
to pay
kunnen
can
Questions & Answers about Nadat we de tol hebben betaald, tanken we bij zodat we verder kunnen rijden.
Why do we use the present perfect (hebben betaald) in the first part, but the simple present (tanken we) in the second?
The conjunction nadat (after) triggers a rule called mandatory anteriority. This means the action in the nadat clause must be grammatically marked as fully completed before the action in the main clause begins. Because the main clause is in the simple present tense (tanken we bij), the preceding action must be in the present perfect (hebben betaald). You cannot use the simple present for both.
Why is it tanken we instead of we tanken after the comma?
Because of the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire subordinate clause (Nadat we de tol hebben betaald) acts as the first block of information in the main sentence. The conjugated verb of the main clause (tanken) must immediately follow it in the second position, which pushes the subject (we) after the verb. This is known as inversion.
The verb is bijtanken (to refuel/top up). Why doesn't the separable prefix bij go to the very end of the sentence?
A separable prefix gets sent to the end of its own clause, not necessarily the end of the entire sentence. The word zodat (so that) introduces a brand-new subordinate clause. Therefore, bij parks itself at the boundary of the main clause, right before zodat begins.
In the final clause, why are the verbs ordered as rather than ?