Breakdown of Anna laat haar rijbewijs zien wanneer de agent erom vraagt.
Anna
Anna
wanneer
when
haar
her
laten zien
to show
het rijbewijs
the driving licence
de agent
the officer
erom vragen
to ask for
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Questions & Answers about Anna laat haar rijbewijs zien wanneer de agent erom vraagt.
Why is the Dutch expression iemand iets laten zien used here, and what does it mean?
iemand iets laten zien is a causative construction: laten means to let or to cause, and zien means to see. Together they mean to let someone see something, i.e. to show something to someone. Thus Anna laat haar rijbewijs zien literally means Anna lets someone see her driving license, or more naturally Anna shows her driving license.
Why does the infinitive zien appear at the end of the main clause instead of directly after laat?
In Dutch main clauses with a finite verb plus an infinitive (such as laten zien), the finite verb (laat) must go into second position, and the infinitive (zien) goes to the very end, after any objects (here haar rijbewijs).
What exactly does haar mean here, and why isn’t it zijn or z’n?
Haar is the feminine possessive pronoun meaning her. Since Anna is female, her driving license is haar rijbewijs. Zijn or its contraction z’n mean his, which would be used if the owner were male.
Why is there no aan de agent in the main clause, as English uses to the officer?
You can include it—Anna laat haar rijbewijs aan de agent zien is perfectly correct. In the original sentence wanneer de agent erom vraagt already tells us who is intended, so aan de agent is dropped as redundant. Dutch often omits obvious participants when context makes them clear.
What does erom replace, and why is it made of er + om?
The verb vragen in the sense of to ask for pairs with om (vragen om iets). When you replace het rijbewijs, you use the pronominal adverb erom: er stands for the thing (the driving license) and om stays as the preposition. Hence de agent erom vraagt = the officer asks for it.
Why is the verb vraagt at the end of the subordinate clause wanneer de agent erom vraagt?
Wanneer is a subordinating conjunction (meaning when). In Dutch subordinate clauses, the finite verb (vraagt) goes to the very end. Everything else (subject de agent, object erom) comes before it.
What’s the difference between wanneer, als, and toen in time clauses?
- Wanneer = when for a point in time or a future/expected event.
- Als = if or whenever, used for conditions or repeated situations.
- Toen = when but only for single past events.
In our sentence wanneer de agent erom vraagt means when the officer asks (at that moment).
How do you pronounce rijbewijs, especially the ij part?
Rijbewijs is pronounced roughly as [raɪˈbɛis], similar to rye-BEIS. The Dutch ij sounds like the English diphthong in eye or my, so rij = rye.