Breakdown of We misten de bus, waardoor we te laat op school kwamen.
wij
we
de school
the school
laat
late
te
too
op
at
komen
to come
missen
to miss
de bus
the bus
waardoor
which
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Questions & Answers about We misten de bus, waardoor we te laat op school kwamen.
What’s the difference between the Dutch verbs misten and vermissen? Both can be translated as “to miss” in English.
- misten is used when you fail to catch or attend something (a bus, train, flight, opportunity).
- vermissen is used when you feel the absence of someone or something (you miss a friend, you miss your home).
Why is the sentence using the simple past tense (misten, kamen) instead of the present perfect?
Dutch often uses the simple past (preterite) to narrate completed events in stories or informal speech. You could also say:
- We hebben de bus gemist, waardoor we te laat op school zijn gekomen.
Both versions are correct; choosing one tense consistently (simple past or present perfect) makes the narrative sound natural.
What does waardoor mean, and why is it used here?
waardoor literally means “by which” or “through which” and introduces a causal subordinate clause expressing the result of the main clause. In your sentence:
- We misten de bus, waardoor we te laat op school kwamen.
…means “We missed the bus, which caused us to arrive late at school.”
Can I replace waardoor with omdat, dus, or zodat? How would that change the sentence?
Yes. Each connector shifts the nuance and word order:
- Omdat (because, gives a reason):
“Omdat we de bus misten, kwamen we te laat op school.” (Subordinate clause → verb-final) - Dus (so, coordinating conjunction):
“We misten de bus, dus kwamen we te laat op school.” (Main clause word order: verb-second) - Zodat (so that, often implying intention or planned result—less natural for accidents):
“We misten de bus, zodat we te laat op school kwamen.” (Subordinate clause → verb-final; suggests more intentional result, so it sounds odd here)
Why does the verb kamen go to the end in “waardoor we te laat op school kwamen”?
Because waardoor is a subordinating word. In Dutch subordinate clauses the finite verb moves to the very end (verb-final word order).
Why is the order te laat op school instead of op school te laat?
Dutch generally orders adverbials as Time – Manner – Place (TMP). Here:
- te laat indicates when/how you arrived (time/manner)
- op school indicates where you arrived (place)
So te laat comes before op school.
Why is the preposition op used in op school komen? Could I say naar school instead?
- naar school komen focuses on the movement toward school (I come to school).
- op school komen or op school zijn describes being/arriving at school itself.
In the phrase te laat op school kwamen, Dutch uses op to indicate the location where you ended up.
Could I rephrase the sentence using doordat instead of waardoor? What’s the difference?
Yes:
- We misten de bus, doordat we te laat op school kwamen.
or better for word order: - Doordat we de bus misten, kwamen we te laat op school.
Both doordat and waardoor introduce a causal clause, but waardoor often emphasizes the direct consequence (“which made us…”), while doordat simply states the cause (“because we…”).