Breakdown of Ik pak mijn rekenmachine om snel de kosten te berekenen.
ik
I
om
for
pakken
to grab
mijn
my
snel
quickly
de kosten
the costs
de rekenmachine
the calculator
berekenen
to calculate
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Questions & Answers about Ik pak mijn rekenmachine om snel de kosten te berekenen.
What does pak mean here and can I use neem instead?
pak is the present-tense form of pakken (“to grab” or “to take”). It emphasizes physically grabbing something. You can also say neem (from nemen, “to take”) with almost the same meaning: Ik neem mijn rekenmachine om snel de kosten te berekenen.
Why is there om + te before berekenen?
Dutch uses om + infinitive + te to express purpose (“in order to …”). om introduces the purpose clause, te marks the infinitive berekenen, so om … te berekenen = “in order to calculate.”
Why does te berekenen appear at the end of the clause?
In Dutch subordinate clauses (including purpose clauses with om + te), the infinitive (and any other verb) moves to the end. That’s why te berekenen comes last.
Why is it de kosten and not het kosten or no article at all?
Kosten (“costs”) is always plural in Dutch, so it takes the plural article de. You cannot say het kosten. If you drop the article you’d change the meaning or make the sentence ungrammatical.
What’s the difference between berekenen and rekenen?
berekenen means “to calculate” (e.g. sums, costs) – you work something out. rekenen on its own means “to do arithmetic” or “to count.” Here you want to figure out the total cost, so berekenen is more precise.
Why is snel placed before de kosten instead of before pak?
In the sentence om snel de kosten te berekenen, snel modifies the action berekenen (“to calculate quickly”), so it stays inside the purpose clause, right before the object. If you wanted to say “I quickly grab my calculator,” you’d move snel to the main clause: Ik pak snel mijn rekenmachine …
Why isn’t rekenmachine capitalized?
In Dutch only proper nouns are capitalized. Common nouns like rekenmachine remain lowercase.