Breakdown of Tom gebruikt een online hulpmiddel om alle documenten op te slaan.
Tom
Tom
om
for
een
a, an
gebruiken
to use
online
online
alle
all
het document
the document
het hulpmiddel
the tool
opslaan
to store
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Questions & Answers about Tom gebruikt een online hulpmiddel om alle documenten op te slaan.
What tense is gebruikt and how is it formed?
gebruikt is the present simple, 3rd-person singular form of the verb gebruiken (“to use”). In Dutch you form the present tense by taking the verb stem (gebruik-) and adding -t for hij/zij/het (he/she/it). So:
- ik gebruik
- jij gebruikt (also jij gebruikt)
- hij gebruikt
Why is the infinitive opslaan split into op te slaan instead of te opslaan?
Dutch has separable verbs like opslaan (op + slaan). When you turn them into an infinitive clause with te, you insert te between the prefix and the verb stem:
- correct: op te slaan
- not: te opslaan
What is the function of om … te in this sentence?
The construction om … te + infinitive expresses purpose, equivalent to “in order to” in English. Here om alle documenten op te slaan means “in order to store all the documents.”
Why does the clause om alle documenten op te slaan come at the end?
In Dutch, subordinate clauses (including om … te clauses) follow a verb-final word order: all non-finite verbs or infinitives go to the end. So the main clause Tom gebruikt een online hulpmiddel comes first, and the purpose clause is appended with its verb at the very end.
Why is there no article before alle documenten? Should it be de alle documenten?
When you use the quantifier alle (“all”) with a plural noun, you drop the article. You say alle documenten for “all documents.” Adding de would be redundant: de alle documenten is incorrect in standard Dutch.
Why is een online hulpmiddel indefinite, and could you use het instead?
een introduces something new or unspecified (“a tool”). If you had already mentioned or knew this specific tool, you could use the definite article het: het online hulpmiddel (“the online tool”). Here it’s indefinite because it’s mentioned for the first time.
What part of speech is online, and why doesn’t it change form?
online is a borrowed adjective/adverb from English. In Dutch it remains in its original form and doesn’t inflect for gender, number, or case, so it’s always online when used adjectivally (e.g. een online cursus, het online platform).