Breakdown of Die stoel is letterlijk te zwaar om te dragen.
zijn
to be
die
that
de stoel
the chair
om
for
te
too
dragen
to carry
zwaar
heavy
letterlijk
literally
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Dutch grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Die stoel is letterlijk te zwaar om te dragen.
Why is die used instead of deze?
Dutch has two pairs of demonstratives: deze/dit for “this” (something near you) and die/dat for “that” (something farther away or already mentioned). Since stoel is a “de-word” (common gender), you use deze stoel if it’s right next to you, but die stoel if you’re pointing to a chair across the room or referring back to it. In the example, the speaker treats it as “that chair” (die stoel).
What does letterlijk add to the sentence?
letterlijk means “literally.” It emphasises that the chair is actually, physically too heavy to carry—not just “so heavy” in a figurative sense. (The opposite is figuurlijk, “figuratively.”) English learners sometimes overuse letterlijk, but in Dutch it only carries the literal/actual sense.
How does te work in te zwaar?
Here te means “too” (as in “too heavy”). The pattern is te + adjective ⇒ “too + adjective.” So te zwaar = “too heavy.” You cannot replace te with erg (that would mean “very heavy”, not “too heavy”) nor drop it if you want the “too … to …” construction.
Why do we need om before te dragen? Couldn’t we just say te zwaar dragen?
To express “too … to …” in Dutch, you use the fixed structure te + adjective + om te + infinitive. The om introduces the infinitive clause that shows the result or purpose (“in order to carry”). Without om, te zwaar dragen would be ungrammatical.
Example pattern:
– Hij is te moe om te lopen. (“He’s too tired to walk.”)
– Die stoel is te zwaar om te dragen. (“That chair is too heavy to carry.”)
What’s the difference between dragen and tillen? Could I say te zwaar om te tillen instead?
– tillen = “to lift” (raising something off the ground)
– dragen = “to carry” (transporting while holding it)
If the chair is so heavy you can’t even lift it off the floor, you could say te zwaar om te tillen. But if you can lift it but can’t carry it, use dragen as in the original sentence.
Can I rephrase this in the passive, like Die stoel is te zwaar om gedragen te worden?
Yes, Die stoel is te zwaar om gedragen te worden is grammatically correct, but it sounds more formal and clunky. In everyday speech Dutch prefers the active infinitive clause: te zwaar om te dragen.