Breakdown of Je krijgt te horen welke winkelketen je moet bezoeken.
bezoeken
to visit
welke
which (for de-words and plural)
horen
to hear
moeten
to have to, must
Questions & Answers about Je krijgt te horen welke winkelketen je moet bezoeken.
What exactly does krijgt te horen mean here? Is it literally 'get to hear'?
It uses the structure krijgen + te + infinitive, which is the focus of this lesson. While it literally translates to 'get to hear', in everyday Dutch it usually means 'to be told' or 'to be informed'. It is a very common, natural way to express receiving information.
Why does the Dutch sentence use the present tense (krijgt) if it implies an instruction I will receive in the future?
Dutch relies on the simple present tense to talk about the future much more often than English does. Because the context implies a future action (being given a task), Je krijgt te horen functions perfectly well as 'You will be told'.
Why are the verbs moet and bezoeken pushed all the way to the end of the sentence?
The phrase welke winkelketen (which retail chain) introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch subordinate clauses, all verbs are sent to the end of the sentence.
Could I reverse the order of the verbs at the end and say bezoeken moet?
Yes, you can! Because this is a subordinate clause ending with a modal verb (moet) and a main verb (bezoeken), you have a choice. Both moet bezoeken and bezoeken moet are grammatically correct, though moet bezoeken is slightly more common.