Breakdown of Nadat we hadden geweigerd het plan bij te stellen, gingen we naar huis.
het huis
the house
wij
we
hebben
to have
naar
to
gaan
to go / to go off (of an alarm)
het plan
the plan
te
to (infinitive marker)
weigeren
to refuse
nadat
after
bijstellen
to adjust (e.g. plans, expectations)
Questions & Answers about Nadat we hadden geweigerd het plan bij te stellen, gingen we naar huis.
Why do we use the past perfect hadden geweigerd here instead of just the simple past weigerden?
The conjunction nadat (after) requires strict tense alignment to show that one action was completed before another. Because the action in the main clause happened in the simple past (gingen), the preceding action in the nadat clause must be pushed one step further back into the past perfect (hadden geweigerd).
Why is the phrase het plan bij te stellen placed after the verbs hadden geweigerd instead of before them?
Normally, all verbs get pushed to the end of a subordinate clause. However, an entire phrase built around te plus an infinitive (like het plan bij te stellen) is usually moved outside the clause and placed after the finite verb cluster (hadden geweigerd). Placing it before the verbs would sound very clunky and interrupt the flow of the sentence.
Why is it written as three words bij te stellen instead of te bijstellen?
The verb bijstellen (to adjust) is a separable verb. When you need to use te with a separable verb, the te is sandwiched between the separable prefix (bij) and the root verb (stellen). In standard Dutch orthography, this is written as three separate words.
Why does the main clause start with the verb gingen instead of the subject we?
The entire first clause starting with Nadat acts as an adverbial phrase of time, occupying the first position of the overall sentence. To satisfy the strict Dutch V2 (verb-second) rule, the finite verb of the main clause (gingen) must immediately follow, which causes inversion with the subject (we).
Learn Nadat we hadden geweigerd het plan bij te stellen, gingen we naar huis and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free