Ik laat de monteur de stroom snel herstellen.

I am having the technician restore the power quickly.

Breakdown of Ik laat de monteur de stroom snel herstellen.

• ik: I
• snel: quickly
• de stroom: the power
• laten: to have
• de monteur: the technician
• herstellen: to restore

Questions & Answers about Ik laat de monteur de stroom snel herstellen.

What is the function of laten in this sentence?

Laten here is a causative verb meaning “to have someone do something.” The structure is:
• Subject (Ik)
• laten (finite verb in V2)
• person who does the action (de monteur)
• thing acted upon (de stroom)
• (adverb) (snel)
• bare infinitive (herstellen)

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Why isn’t there a te before herstellen?

After verbs of causation or perception like laten, zien, horen, Dutch uses the bare infinitive. You only add te with certain other verbs (e.g. proberen, besluiten, hopen).

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Why does herstellen appear at the end of the sentence?

In Dutch main clauses the finite verb (laat) goes in second position (V2). Any non-finite verbs (infinitives, participles) form a cluster at the very end, after objects and adverbs.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

How do I know the order de monteur de stroom snel herstellen?

In a laten-construction the sequence is:
1) the person performing the action (de monteur)
2) the direct object or thing affected (de stroom)
3) any adverbs (snel)
4) the bare infinitive (herstellen)

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Can the adverb snel be placed elsewhere?

Yes. Dutch adverbs can float in the “midfield” (between the finite verb and the verb cluster) or inside the cluster just before the infinitive. For example:
• Ik laat snel de monteur de stroom herstellen.
• Ik laat de monteur de stroom vandaag snel herstellen.
Placement may shift emphasis but stays roughly between laat and herstellen.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

How do I replace de stroom with a pronoun to avoid repetition?

Since de stroom is a “de-word,” you use the object pronoun hem. For example:
Ik laat de monteur hem snel herstellen.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

What’s the passive equivalent of this sentence?

A straightforward passive focuses on de stroom:
De stroom wordt snel (door de monteur) hersteld.
Here wordt is the auxiliary and hersteld the past participle. The agent (door de monteur) is optional.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Why don’t we use dat to introduce a subordinate clause with laten?

Causative laten never takes a dat-clause. If you need a subordinate clause with a finite verb, you must replace laten with another verb, for example:
Ik zorg ervoor dat de monteur de stroom snel herstelt.
Here zorg ervoor governs a dat-clause, and herstelt goes to the end of that subordinate clause.