Het onweer barst plotseling los.

The thunderstorm suddenly breaks out.

Breakdown of Het onweer barst plotseling los.

• plotseling: suddenly
• het onweer: the thunderstorm
• losbarsten: to break out

Questions & Answers about Het onweer barst plotseling los.

In Het onweer barst plotseling los, what does het mean here? Is it the or it?

In this sentence, het is the definite article the, not the pronoun it.

• het onweer = the thunderstorm / the thunder and lightning (a neuter noun)
• Dutch has two definite articles:
  • de for common-gender nouns
  • het for neuter nouns

onweer is neuter, so it takes het.

If you wanted the pronoun it, you would normally also use het, but the position and context are different. Here, het onweer together is the subject noun phrase meaning the thunderstorm.

What exactly is onweer? Is it just thunder, or a full thunderstorm?

onweer is a general word for thundery weather: thunder plus lightning (and often rain). In English you’d usually translate it as a thunderstorm.

Compare:

• onweer – thunder + lightning, the whole phenomenon
• donder – thunder (the sound)
• bliksem – lightning (the flash)

So Het onweer barst plotseling los is most naturally The thunderstorm suddenly breaks out / erupts rather than The thunder suddenly breaks out.

Why is it barst … los? What does that combination mean?

barst … los comes from the separable verb losbarsten.

• barsten = to burst, to crack
• los = loose, off
• losbarsten (separable) = to erupt, to break out suddenly

In a main clause, separable verbs split:

• Infinitive: losbarsten
• Simple present, 3rd person: Het onweer barst los.

This construction is very idiomatic for sudden beginnings of something intense:

• Het onweer barst los. – The thunderstorm breaks out.
• Het applaus barst los. – The applause erupts.
• Hij barst in lachen uit. – He bursts out laughing. (similar idea, different verb)

So barst … los here is not two unrelated words; it’s one verb whose parts are separated.

How is losbarsten conjugated in other tenses?

Key forms:

• Infinitive: losbarsten
• Present (3rd person singular): het onweer barst los
• Simple past:
  • singular: het onweer barstte los
  • plural: de onweersbuien barstten los
• Perfect:
  • het onweer is plotseling losgebarsten

Notes:

• In the simple past, you get barstte / barstten because the stem barst ends in a consonant from the ’t kofschip rule (so you add -te / -ten).
• In the perfect, the separable verb losbarsten becomes losgebarsten: the ge comes between the particle los and the stem barst-.
• With this intransitive meaning (a storm starting), Dutch typically uses zijn: is losgebarsten.

Why is the word order barst plotseling los? Could I say barst los plotseling?

In a main clause, the finite verb must be in the second position, and the separable particle normally goes to the end:

• Het onweer (position 1)
• barst (finite verb, position 2)
• middle part: plotseling
• los (particle at the end)

So the normal word order is:

• Het onweer barst plotseling los.

You could say Het onweer barst los, plotseling, but that makes plotseling sound like an afterthought, separated by a pause or comma.

Putting plotseling between barst and los is the standard, natural way. Saying Het onweer barst los plotseling without a pause at the end sounds wrong in Dutch.

What is the nuance of plotseling? How is it different from plots or opeens?

All three basically mean suddenly, but there are small differences:

• plotseling

  • Slightly more neutral or formal.
  • Very common in both spoken and written Dutch.
  • Fits nicely with narrative or descriptive language: Het onweer barst plotseling los.

• plots

  • Shorter, sometimes a bit more informal or literary, depending on context.
  • Often interchangeable with plotseling, especially in speech.

• opeens

  • Very common in spoken Dutch.
  • Often sounds a bit more conversational: Het onweer barst opeens los.

All three would be understood here; plotseling is just a very standard, neutral choice.

Why is the verb barst and not barsten or something else?

barst is the present tense, 3rd person singular form of barsten.

Conjugation of barsten in the present:

• ik barst – I burst
• jij / je barst – you burst
• hij / zij / het barst – he / she / it bursts
• wij / jullie / zij barsten – we / you (pl.) / they burst

The subject is het onweer (3rd person singular), so you need barst.

You never add a double t in the present; you just add t once: barst, not barstt.

Could we also say Het onweert plotseling? How does that differ from Het onweer barst plotseling los?

Yes, Het onweert plotseling is grammatically correct, but the meaning and style differ.

• Het onweert.

  • Uses the verb onweren = to thunder (to have thundery weather).
  • Means There is thunderstorm weather / It is thundering.
  • Describes the ongoing weather condition.

• Het onweer barst plotseling los.

  • Focuses on the sudden start or eruption of the storm.
  • Emphasizes that it breaks out at a certain moment.

So:

• Het onweert plotseling. – It suddenly starts to thunder / thundery weather suddenly occurs. (grammatical but less idiomatic)
• Het onweer barst plotseling los. – Much more idiomatic to describe a storm suddenly erupting.

Why is it Het onweer barst plotseling los and not Het onweer breekt plotseling uit like English breaks out?

You can say Het onweer breekt plotseling uit, and it is understandable, but it is less idiomatic than barst los for this context.

Common patterns:

• Het onweer barst los. – very idiomatic, frequent
• De oorlog breekt uit. – the war breaks out
• Een brand breekt uit. – a fire breaks out

So Dutch tends to prefer:

• oorlog / brand
  • uitbreken
• onweer / applaus / gejuich
  • losbarsten

Using barst los for onweer sounds most natural to native speakers.

How would I make this sentence plural, for example the thunderstorms suddenly break out?

You mainly need to change the subject and the verb form:

• Singular: Het onweer barst plotseling los.
  – The thunderstorm suddenly breaks out.

• Plural, more natural Dutch:
  De onweersbuien barsten plotseling los.
  – The thunderstorms suddenly break out.

Changes:

• het onweer → de onweersbuien
  
  • onweersbui = a shower / rain cell with thunder
  • plural: onweersbuien
• Verb: barst (singular) → barsten (plural)
  De onweersbuien barsten los. (3rd person plural)

Everything else (like plotseling, los) stays the same.