Breakdown of Ik bel de notaris om een afspraak te maken.
ik
I
om
for
een
a, an
maken
to make
de afspraak
the appointment
bellen
to call
de notaris
the notary
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Questions & Answers about Ik bel de notaris om een afspraak te maken.
Why is the verb bellen conjugated as ik bel instead of ik bellen?
In Dutch, verbs in the infinitive always end in -en (here bellen “to call”). For the first person singular ik, you drop the -en, leaving the stem bel. Thus ik bel is the correct present-tense form. Ik bellen would incorrectly mix the infinitive with a personal subject.
Why is there no preposition before de notaris? Don’t we need met or naar?
When bellen means “to call (on the phone),” it takes a person as a direct object: ik bel iemand. You can optionally add naar for emphasis (ik bel naar iemand), but you never use met with bellen. Met is used when making an appointment (“een afspraak maken met iemand”), not with the verb bellen.
What is the purpose of om in om een afspraak te maken?
Here om…te introduces a purpose clause and corresponds to “in order to” or simply “to” in English. The pattern is om + [object] + te + [infinitive]. So om een afspraak te maken literally means “in order to make an appointment.”
Why does the verb maken appear at the end of om een afspraak te maken?
In Dutch subordinate clauses (including om…te clauses), verbs move to the end. Om makes the clause subordinate, te marks the infinitive, and the main verb (maken) must follow all other elements, appearing at the very end.
Why is de used with notaris, but een with afspraak?
De is the definite article (“the”) because you refer to a specific notary you intend to call. Een is the indefinite article (“a”) because you’re making an unspecified appointment. If you meant a particular known appointment, you’d say de afspraak.
Why isn’t notaris capitalized in Dutch?
Dutch only capitalizes proper nouns (names of people, places) and official titles when they directly precede a name. Professions and common nouns remain lowercase. So notaris is lowercase unless it’s part of a title, e.g., Notaris Jansen.
How would you express “I called the notary to make an appointment” in the past tense?
You have two main choices:
- Simple past: Ik belde de notaris om een afspraak te maken.
- Present perfect (more colloquial): Ik heb de notaris gebeld om een afspraak te maken.
In the perfect tense, bellen uses hebben- past participle gebeld.