Learn Hardcore Dutch: De koerier leverde het pakket zonder enige vertraging. - The courier delivered the parcel without any delay.

The use of het (the definite article) signals that both speaker and listener know which package is meant. If you say een pakket, you introduce an unspecified package:

De koerier leverde een pakket zonder enige vertraging.
That means “The courier delivered a package…” not “the package.”

What part of speech is enige in zonder enige vertraging, and why is it needed?

Here enige is an indefinite adjective meaning any. Because zonder (“without”) already negates, you can’t say zonder geen vertraging. Instead you add enige for emphasis: “without any delay.”

Could you drop enige and simply say zonder vertraging?

Yes. zonder vertraging = “without delay” is perfectly normal and shorter. Adding enige (“any”) makes it more emphatic, like “without the slightest delay.”

What tense is leverde, and how do you form it?

leverde is the simple past (onvoltooid verleden tijd) of leveren (“to deliver”). To form the past of a regular (weak) verb whose stem doesn’t end in a –t-kofschip-consonant, you add -de to the stem:

Stem: lever
Past singular: lever + de → leverde
Past plural: lever + den → leverden

Why not use the perfect tense (heeft geleverd)?

In spoken Dutch the perfect tense (voltooide tijd) is more common for past actions:

De koerier heeft het pakket zonder enige vertraging geleverd.
The simple past (leverde) is fine in writing or storytelling but sounds a bit more formal or narrative.

What does zonder enige vertraging literally translate to?

zonder = without
enige = any
vertraging = delay
Literally: “without any delay.”

How would you mention to whom the package was delivered?

You can add an indirect object with aan:

De koerier leverde het pakket aan de klant zonder enige vertraging.
Or use a double‐object construction without aan (more common in business language):
De koerier leverde de klant het pakket zonder enige vertraging.

What’s the difference between leveren, bezorgen, and afleveren?

leveren: to supply or deliver goods (often neutral or formal)
bezorgen: to bring or take something to someone’s address (more casual, everyday)
afleveren: to hand over into someone’s hands or at a specific delivery point (emphasises completion)

If you start the sentence with zonder enige vertraging, how does the word order change?

Dutch follows the V2 (verb‐second) rule. Placing the adverbial first triggers inversion:

Zonder enige vertraging leverde de koerier het pakket.

Are there other ways to say “without any delay” in Dutch?

Yes, for example:

zonder vertraging
zonder de minste vertraging
meteen / onmiddellijk (immediately, with the added sense of no waiting)