Breakdown of Daarna liet hij zien hoe je die grafiek zelf kon maken.
hij
he
die
that
kunnen
can
je
you
hoe
how
maken
to make
laten zien
to show
zelf
yourself
daarna
after that
de grafiek
the graph
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Questions & Answers about Daarna liet hij zien hoe je die grafiek zelf kon maken.
What does Daarna mean and how is it formed?
Daarna means after that or then. It’s formed from daar (there) + na (after) and functions as an adverb indicating the next action in a sequence.
Why is liet used instead of another past-tense verb like toonde?
Dutch uses the idiom iemand iets laten zien (lit. ‘to let someone see something’) to mean to show. In past tense, laten becomes liet, paired with the infinitive zien, so liet zien = showed. While you can say toonde (showed) too, liet zien is very common in everyday Dutch.
There’s no object after liet, like hij liet ons zien. Why is that omitted?
The indirect object (ons, ‘us’) is clear from context, so it’s optional and often dropped. In Dutch, if the audience is obvious, you can leave out the object: hij liet zien still means he showed (us).
How does the word order in Daarna liet hij zien work?
In main clauses Dutch has V2 order: the finite verb must be second. Here Daarna is first, liet (the finite verb) is second, followed by the subject hij, then zien and the rest. So Daarna liet hij zien = Then he showed.
Why do the verbs kon maken come at the end in hoe je die grafiek zelf kon maken?
Subordinate clauses introduced by words like hoe use SOV order. You put the subject je, the object die grafiek, any adverbs (zelf), and then the conjugated verb kon plus the infinitive maken at the very end.
Why does it use je instead of jij?
Je is the unstressed, neutral form of jij widely used in speech and informal writing. Jij adds emphasis or contrast, so je is the natural choice here.
What nuance does zelf add in this sentence?
Zelf means by yourself or on your own. It emphasizes that you learn to create the graph independently, not that someone else does it for you.
Why is the clause in past tense (kon maken) instead of present tense (kunt maken)?
Because the main action (liet zien) is in the past tense, the embedded clause matches that past time frame. So kunt maken (present can make) becomes kon maken (past could make).