Breakdown of Wie dan ook naar deze plaat speurt, zal hem niet vinden.
ook
also / -ever (concessive particle)
niet
not
naar
to
vinden
to find
wie
who
deze
this / these
dan
then
zullen
shall / will
hem
him
de plaat
the record (vinyl)
speuren
to search / to scour
Questions & Answers about Wie dan ook naar deze plaat speurt, zal hem niet vinden.
How does "wie dan ook" work in this sentence?
The phrase wie dan ook translates to "whoever" or "anyone who." In Dutch, adding dan ook after a question word like wie (who), wat (what), or waar (where) generalizes the word, giving it the same meaning as the "-ever" suffix in English (whoever, whatever, wherever).
Why does the second part of the sentence start with the verb "zal"?
This happens because of the Dutch V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire first clause (Wie dan ook naar deze plaat speurt) acts as a single block occupying the first position of the main sentence. Therefore, the conjugated verb of the main clause (zal) must immediately follow the comma to take the second position.
Why use "speuren naar" instead of the more common "zoeken naar"?
While zoeken is the standard word for "to search" or "to look for," speuren implies a more intense, active, or detective-like hunt. It suggests meticulously tracking something down rather than just casually looking for it. Both verbs take the preposition naar.
The English translation says "find it," so why does the Dutch sentence use "hem" (him)?
The word plaat is a de-word (de plaat). In Dutch, you cannot use het (it) to refer back to a de-word. Instead, you must use hij/hem or zij/haar. In everyday modern Dutch, hem is commonly used as the object pronoun for most inanimate de-words unless the noun is obviously feminine.
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