Questions & Answers about Ik wil vanavond gewoon thuis blijven.
Why is blijven at the end of the sentence?
Because Dutch main clauses usually put the conjugated verb in second position. Here, wil is the conjugated form of willen.
The other verb, blijven, stays in the infinitive and goes to the end because it depends on the modal verb willen.
So the pattern is:
Ik + wil + ... + blijven
Compare:
Ik wil slapen.
Ik wil vanavond thuisblijven.
This is very normal Dutch word order.
Why is there no te before blijven?
After a modal verb like willen, Dutch uses a bare infinitive, without te.
So you say:
Ik wil blijven.
not: Ik wil te blijven.
Common modal verbs that work this way are:
- willen = to want
- kunnen = can, to be able to
- mogen = may, to be allowed to
- moeten = must, to have to
- zullen = will, shall
But with other verbs, te may appear:
Ik probeer thuis te blijven.
So the lack of te here is completely normal.