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Questions & Answers about Ik vertrouw haar volledig.
What function does haar serve in the sentence Ik vertrouw haar volledig?
Here, haar is the direct object pronoun “her.”
- Dutch personal pronouns often distinguish between subject (e.g. zij/ze) and object (e.g. haar).
- Haar can also be a possessive adjective (“her book”), but in Ik vertrouw haar it is clearly the object of vertrouw.
Why isn’t there a preposition like “in” before haar, as in English “trust in her”?
Dutch vertrouwen is a transitive verb, so you can say vertrouwen iemand without a preposition.
- You could also use the intransitive variant vertrouwen op iemand (“to rely on someone”), e.g. Ik vertrouw op haar, but that slightly shifts the nuance toward “I depend on her.”
Why is the adverb volledig placed at the end of the sentence?
Dutch word order for adverbials often follows: Subject – Verb – Object – Adverbs.
- Ik (S) vertrouw (V) haar (O) volledig (Adv).
- Placing volledig earlier (e.g. Ik volledig vertrouw haar) sounds unnatural.
- If you use a separable or modal verb, adverbs can move around, but with a simple transitively used verb like vertrouwen they typically appear after the object.
How do you conjugate vertrouwen in other persons and in the past tense?
Present tense:
- ik vertrouw
- jij/u vertrouwt
- hij/zij/het vertrouwt
- wij/jullie/zij vertrouwen
Simple past:
- ik vertrouwde
- jij vertrouwde
- hij/zij/het vertrouwde
- wij/jullie/zij vertrouwden
Perfect tense with hebben:
- ik heb (haar) volledig vertrouwd
Can I use other words instead of volledig, like helemaal, totaal, or volkomen?
Yes. All four mean “completely,” but with slight differences:
- Volledig and totaal are more neutral/formal.
- Helemaal is very common in speech.
- Volkomen is stronger, often used in written or emphatic contexts.
Examples: - Ik vertrouw haar helemaal.
- Ik vertrouw haar totaal.
- Ik vertrouw haar volkomen.
Could I turn the verb vertrouwen into a noun and change the structure?
Absolutely. You can say: Ik heb volledig vertrouwen in haar.
- Here vertrouwen is a noun (“trust”), so you need hebben plus the preposition in.
- This construction feels a bit more formal or abstract than the verb form.
In casual spoken Dutch, how might you shorten Ik vertrouw haar volledig?
Colloquially, you might hear: Ik vertrouw d’r helemaal.
- d’r is the reduced form of haar.
- helemaal often replaces volledig in everyday speech.