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Breakdown of Ik zal niet vergeten om de sleutel van mijn kamer op te bergen.
ik
I
niet
not
om
for
mijn
my
zullen
will
vergeten
to forget
de sleutel
the key
de kamer
the room
opbergen
to store away
Questions & Answers about Ik zal niet vergeten om de sleutel van mijn kamer op te bergen.
Why is zullen used here instead of simply the present tense?
Dutch often uses zullen to form the future tense. In this sentence, Ik zal niet vergeten emphasizes that the action (not forgetting) will happen in the future. Using the present tense would be grammatically correct (e.g., Ik vergeet niet), but it would sound more like a general statement rather than a commitment to perform the action in the future.
What does opbergen mean exactly?
Opbergen generally means to put something away or to store something safely. In this sentence, it refers to putting the key in a secure or appropriate place, like a drawer or a specific safe spot.
Why do we have om … te followed by an infinitive?
The construction om … te + infinitive in Dutch is used to express purpose or intention. Here, it indicates that you’re talking about the action () of putting the key away as the specific thing you should not forget.
Can I say the sentence without om? For example, Ik zal niet vergeten de sleutel van mijn kamer op te bergen.
Some native speakers may omit om in casual speech, and you might hear it without om. However, including om (as in om te bergen) is generally considered more standard and grammatically complete, especially in written Dutch.
Why do we say de sleutel and not het sleutel?
Sleutel is a masculine/feminine noun in Dutch. Words of that gender typically take de rather than het. There are no hard-and-fast rules that always tell you which nouns use de or het, so it often has to be memorized.
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