De verpleegkundige zei dat je soms gaat rillen als je koorts krijgt.

Zei is the past tense of zeggen (to say).

• zeggen = to say
• zegt = says
• zei = said

So De verpleegkundige zei ... means The nurse said ...

This is also an irregular past tense, so you have to learn it as a form:

• ik zei
• jij zei
• hij/zij zei

Dat means that and introduces a subordinate clause.

So the sentence is built like this:

• De verpleegkundige zei = The nurse said
• dat je soms gaat rillen als je koorts krijgt = that you sometimes start shivering when you get a fever

In English, that is often optional:

• The nurse said (that) you sometimes start shivering ...

In Dutch, dat is very common and often sounds more natural than leaving it out.

Because dat introduces a subordinate clause, and Dutch usually sends the verb(s) toward the end of that clause.

Main clause:

• De verpleegkundige zei ...

Subordinate clause:

• dat je soms gaat rillen ...

A learner often expects something more like English word order, but Dutch does this a lot:

• Ik weet dat hij morgen komt.
• Ze zegt dat je moet wachten.

In your sentence, gaat rillen is the verbal part, and it appears late in the clause because of subordinate-clause word order.

Gaat rillen literally looks like goes shiver, but in Dutch this structure often means to start doing something or to begin to do something.

So:

• je rilt = you are shivering / you shiver
• je gaat rillen = you start shivering / you begin to shiver

In this sentence, gaat rillen suggests the onset of the reaction: when you get a fever, you may start shivering.

This is a very common Dutch pattern:

• gaan slapen = go to sleep / start sleeping
• gaan huilen = start crying
• gaan regenen = start raining

Because it follows gaan in this construction.

Dutch often uses:

• a conjugated verb first
• then an infinitive

Here:

• gaat = conjugated form of gaan
• rillen = infinitive

So gaat rillen works like:

• starts shivering
• is going to shiver depending on context

In this sentence, starts shivering is the better fit.

Here als is best understood as when.

The sentence describes something that can happen generally:

• you sometimes start shivering when you get a fever

Dutch als can sometimes overlap with English if and when, especially in everyday speech. But in this sentence, the meaning is not really a doubtful condition; it is more a general situation or pattern.

So:

• als je koorts krijgt = when you get a fever

Because koorts krijgen is a normal Dutch expression meaning to get a fever.

• koorts = fever
• koorts krijgen = to get a fever
• koorts hebben = to have a fever

So:

• als je koorts krijgt = when you get a fever
• als je koorts hebt = when you have a fever

Both are possible, but they are slightly different:

• krijgt focuses on developing the fever
• hebt focuses on having it

It can be either, but here it is probably general you.

Dutch often uses je the same way English uses:

• you sometimes feel tired when you’re sick meaning people in general

So this sentence likely means something like:

• People sometimes start shivering when they get a fever

But grammatically, it still uses the normal second-person form je.

Soms means sometimes, and its position is very natural in Dutch.

The clause is:

• dat je soms gaat rillen

Dutch adverbs like soms, vaak, misschien, and nooit often come after the subject and before the verb group.

So:

• je soms gaat rillen = you sometimes start shivering

That is the most neutral word order here.

Verpleegkundige means nurse, and it does not have to be female.

Even though English often says nurse, Dutch uses verpleegkundige as a standard word for the profession. It can refer to:

• a man
• a woman

The article is de, because it is a common-gender noun:

• de verpleegkundige

If you want to make the person’s sex clear, Dutch usually does that through context or pronouns later in the sentence.

It can function as both, but here it is a noun.

In your sentence:

• De verpleegkundige = the nurse

Historically, the word is related to verpleegkundig, which is adjective-like in form, but in modern Dutch verpleegkundige is a very normal noun meaning nurse.

So in this sentence, just treat it as a regular noun.

Because the subject is je, and here je takes the singular verb form.

So:

• je krijgt = you get
• je gaat = you go / you start

That is why the sentence has:

• je soms gaat rillen
• als je koorts krijgt

Even when je is used in a general sense, it still usually behaves grammatically like singular you.

Yes, but it would sound more formal:

• De verpleegkundige zei dat u soms gaat rillen als u koorts krijgt.

Difference:

• je = informal
• u = formal

In many real-life situations, a nurse might use either one depending on:

• the patient’s age
• the level of formality
• regional habits
• the relationship with the patient

The grammar stays mostly the same here, although u can sometimes behave differently in verb agreement in other contexts.

Yes, rillen is a common and natural word for to shiver or to tremble, especially from cold, fever, fear, or a physical reaction.

A related word is bibberen, which also means to shiver or to shake, often with a slightly more vivid or expressive feel.

For a medical or neutral statement like this one, rillen sounds perfectly normal.

Yes:

• De verpleegkundige = the nurse
• zei = said
• dat = that
• je = you / people in general
• soms = sometimes
• gaat rillen = start shivering
• als = when
• je koorts krijgt = you get a fever

So the structure is:

The nurse said
that you sometimes start shivering
when you get a fever

This is a good example of how Dutch combines:

• a main clause
• a dat clause
• an als clause inside it