Breakdown of Hagel op het dak maakt veel geluid, maar binnen blijven we droog.
maar
but
wij
we
blijven
to stay
maken
to make
binnen
inside
op
on
veel
a lot of
droog
dry
de hagel
the hail
het dak
the roof
het geluid
the noise
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Questions & Answers about Hagel op het dak maakt veel geluid, maar binnen blijven we droog.
Why is there no article before Hagel?
Because Hagel is an uncountable mass noun referring to hail in general. In Dutch, mass or natural phenomena spoken of in a general sense normally appear without an article. If you wanted to talk about a specific hailstorm, you could say de hagel van vanochtend.
Why is it op het dak and not something like in het dak?
Because op indicates contact with a surface (“on”), whereas in would mean “inside.” Here the hail lands on top of the roof’s surface. Also, dak is a neuter noun, so it takes het as its definite article.
Why does the sentence use maakt veel geluid instead of doet veel geluid?
The fixed Dutch collocation for “to make noise” is geluid maken, not geluid doen. You can also say lawaai maken, which is even more idiomatic when describing something making a lot of noise.
Why doesn’t maar send the verb to the end of the second clause, as subordinating conjunctions do?
Because maar is a coordinating conjunction (like en, of). It links two main clauses, each of which keeps the normal V2 (verb-second) word order. Only subordinating conjunctions (e.g. omdat, terwijl) push the finite verb to the end.
What is the reason for the word order binnen blijven we droog?
Dutch main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb must be in second position. Here binnen (an adverbial) is moved to the first position for emphasis, so the verb blijven comes second, then the subject we, and finally the adjective droog.
Why is the adjective droog not inflected to droge in binnen blijven we droog?
Predicative adjectives (used after verbs like zijn, blijven) stay in their base form. Only attributive adjectives (before a noun) take an -e if the noun has a definite article or meets certain conditions (e.g. het droge dak, een droog dak).
What’s the difference between we and wij in this context?
Both mean “we/us.” we is the unstressed, informal form common in everyday speech. wij is the stressed or emphatic form and is used when you want to highlight the subject. In this sentence there’s no extra emphasis, so we is preferred.