Learn Hardcore Dutch: Het stopcontact is kapot, waardoor de lamp niet werkt. - The outlet is broken, so the lamp doesn’t work.

In Dutch, nouns are either common gender (de-words) or neuter gender (het-words). stopcontact (power outlet/socket) is a neuter noun, so you must use het.

What does stopcontact mean?

stopcontact is the Dutch word for power outlet or socket, the fixture in the wall that supplies electricity to plugged-in devices like lamps.

Why doesn’t kapot get an -e (as in kapote) to agree with het stopcontact?

Here kapot is a predicative adjective (it follows a form of zijn). Predicative adjectives in Dutch remain uninflected. You only add -e when an adjective directly precedes a noun (attributive use), e.g. een kapotte lamp (“a broken lamp”).

What is the role of waardoor in this sentence?

waardoor is a subordinating conjunction (also called a relative adverb) meaning “as a result of which” or “causing”. It links the main clause (Het stopcontact is kapot) to the effect (de lamp niet werkt).

Why does the verb werkt appear at the end of the clause after waardoor?

Subordinate clauses introduced by a subordinating conjunction like waardoor require verb-final word order in Dutch. That’s why werkt comes at the end.

Why is there a comma before waardoor?

In Dutch, you typically place a comma before a subordinate clause introduced by conjunctions such as waardoor, omdat, terwijl, etc., to clearly separate the main and subordinate clauses.

Could you rewrite the sentence using omdat or daardoor instead of waardoor, and would it sound the same?

Yes. Possible rewrites:

Subordinate reason with omdat (verb-final clause):
De lamp werkt niet, omdat het stopcontact kapot is.
(Here the lamp not working is the main clause, and the broken socket is the reason.)
Result adverb with daardoor (verb-second clause):
Het stopcontact is kapot, daardoor werkt de lamp niet.
(Verb-second word order in the second clause, because *daardoor functions as an adverb.)*

Each variant slightly shifts the focus: omdat emphasizes the reason, waardoor highlights the consequence, and daardoor frames the consequence in a main clause.

What is the difference between kapot and stuk when talking about broken things?

Both can mean “broken,” but:

kapot often implies something doesn’t work/function anymore.
stuk can emphasize that something is physically damaged, broken into pieces, or unusable.

Often they’re interchangeable in casual speech (“Mijn telefoon is kapot/stuk”), but kapot focuses on functionality.

How do you pronounce stopcontact?

Stopcontact is pronounced approximately /ˈstɔp.kɔnˌtɑxt/. Stress is on the first syllable: STOP-contact.