Learn Hardcore Dutch: Tom belt het juiste nummer, maar krijgt toch geen verbinding. - Tom dials the correct number, but still gets no connection.

Here belt is the 3rd person singular present tense of bellen, meaning ‘to call’ on the phone. Dutch uses bellen for ‘to phone’ or ‘to dial’. Although bellen can also mean ‘to ring’ (like a doorbell), in everyday speech iemand bellen = ‘to call someone’.

Why is the sentence in the present tense (belt…krijgt) instead of the past?

Dutch often uses the historical present to make narratives more vivid. Even though the action happened in the past, describing it in the present brings more immediacy. If you wanted a straightforward past, you could say Tom belde het juiste nummer, maar kreeg toch geen verbinding.

What’s the difference between bellen and telefoneren?

Both verbs mean ‘to call/phone’. bellen is the common, conversational term. telefoneren is more formal or neutral and appears in official contexts. You’ll hear bellen almost always in everyday Dutch.

Why isn’t there a preposition (like ‘to’) before het nummer?

In Dutch, bellen takes a direct object. You say iemand bellen or een nummer bellen without naar. So Tom belt het juiste nummer is correct; you don’t need naar.

What does verbinding mean here, and why is it used without a preposition after krijgt?

verbinding means ‘connection’. In telephone contexts it’s the call connection. krijgt (‘gets’) takes a direct object in the form of a noun, so geen verbinding (‘no connection’) follows immediately. No extra preposition is needed.

What’s the role of maar and toch? They both seem to translate as ‘but’.

maar is the coordinating conjunction ‘but’. toch adds the nuance ‘nevertheless’ or ‘still’. Together they stress contrast:
• maar – introduces the contrast
• toch – emphasizes that despite calling the correct number, he still has no connection

Could I replace toch with echter or omit it altogether?

You could use echter (‘however’) but it usually appears after the verb or in a different position:
Tom belt het juiste nummer, maar hij krijgt echter geen verbinding.
Omitting toch is also possible, but you lose that extra nuance of ‘nevertheless’.

Why is it het juiste nummer and not de juiste nummer?

Dutch nouns have grammatical gender. nummer is neuter, so it takes the definite article het. The adjective juiste is weakly inflected after het, giving het juiste nummer (‘the correct number’).

Why is it geen verbinding and not niet verbinding?

geen negates nouns (zero quantity). Use geen with countable and uncountable nouns: geen verbinding = ‘no connection’. niet negates verbs, adjectives, adverbs, or entire clauses, not standalone nouns.