Het streven om elke dag te oefenen is belangrijk.

to be

Breakdown of Het streven om elke dag te oefenen is belangrijk.

• oefenen: to practice
• belangrijk: important
• om: for

Questions & Answers about Het streven om elke dag te oefenen is belangrijk.

What part of speech is streven and what does it mean here?

Streven is a noun derived from the verb streven (“to strive”). It means “(the) striving” or “(the) effort.” In the sentence, het streven is the subject: The striving (to practice every day) is important.

Why is het used before streven?

In Dutch, nouns are either common-gender (use de) or neuter-gender (use het). Abstract nouns like streven are neuter, so they take the definite article het. Hence het streven (“the effort/striving”).

Why do we use om… te oefenen instead of some other structure?

Dutch expresses purpose or a noun-complement infinitive with a two-part infinitive clause:
• om = subordinating conjunction (“in order to”)
• te = infinitive marker before the main verb
Together om elke dag te oefenen means “in order to practice every day.”

Why do we need both om and te? Aren’t they both “to”?