Breakdown of Je moet etherische olie altijd verdunnen, want pure olie is gevaarlijk.
zijn
to be
altijd
always
want
because
moeten
to have to, must
gevaarlijk
dangerous
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
de olie
the oil
etherisch
essential (oil)
puur
pure (unmixed)
verdunnen
to dilute
Questions & Answers about Je moet etherische olie altijd verdunnen, want pure olie is gevaarlijk.
Why is 'essential oil' translated as etherische olie and not essentiële olie?
In Dutch, essentieel means 'crucial' or 'fundamentally important'. When talking about plant extracts, the English word 'essential' comes from 'essence' (as in aroma). Dutch uses etherisch (volatile or ethereal) for this specific meaning.
Why doesn't the verb go to the end of the clause after want?
Want (because) is a coordinating conjunction, meaning it simply links two main clauses without changing the word order. If you used omdat instead, the second clause would be a subclause, and the verb would move to the end: ... omdat pure olie gevaarlijk is.
How could I express this causal relationship using the maken dat structure from this lesson?
You could shift the sentence around to say: Het feit dat pure olie gevaarlijk is, maakt dat je het altijd moet verdunnen (The fact that pure oil is dangerous makes it so that you must always dilute it). Notice how maakt dat introduces a subclause, forcing the verbs moet verdunnen to the end.
Why is the spelling pure olie instead of puur olie?
Olie is a de-word, and adjectives placed before a de-word usually get an -e ending. When the word puur gets this -e, the syllable becomes 'open' (pu-re). Dutch spelling rules state we drop one u to keep the long vowel sound without double-spelling it.
Learn Je moet etherische olie altijd verdunnen, want pure olie is gevaarlijk 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