Breakdown of We krijgen niet te horen waar we moeten afrekenen.
niet
not
waar
where
horen
to hear
moeten
to have to, must
Questions & Answers about We krijgen niet te horen waar we moeten afrekenen.
Why use krijgen te horen instead of a passive translation like "worden verteld"?
While English often uses the passive voice "to be told," Dutch strongly prefers the active construction krijgen te horen (literally "to get to hear"). You will regularly use krijgen te + infinitive for receiving information, such as krijgen te zien (to be shown) or krijgen te weten (to find out/to come to know).
Why is niet placed immediately before te horen?
In Dutch, niet tends to be placed just before the element it specifically negates, which in this case is the verbal complement te horen. As a general rule, niet comes after the conjugated verb (krijgen) but before the remaining verbs at the end of the main clause.
Why do the verbs moeten and afrekenen go to the very end of the sentence?
The phrase waar we moeten afrekenen is an indirect question acting as a subordinate clause. In Dutch subordinate clauses, all verbs—both the conjugated verb (moeten) and the infinitive (afrekenen)—must be pushed to the very end.
Could the verb order in the subordinate clause be afrekenen moeten instead?