Na de lekkage controleerde ik de meterkast.

Dutch often puts a time phrase first for emphasis or for natural flow. Na de lekkage means after the leak, so the sentence is setting the time frame first.

When a phrase other than the subject comes first in a Dutch main clause, the finite verb still has to stay in second position. That is why you get:

Na de lekkage controleerde ik de meterkast.

and not:

Na de lekkage ik controleerde de meterkast.

This is a very common Dutch word order pattern.

This is because Dutch is a verb-second language in main clauses.

The first slot in the sentence is taken by Na de lekkage. Since the finite verb must come second, controleerde comes next, and the subject ik comes after it.

So the pattern is:

[time phrase] + [finite verb] + [subject] + rest

Example:

• Na de lekkage controleerde ik de meterkast.
• Gisteren zag ik hem.
• Thuis eet zij altijd vroeg.

If the sentence started with the subject, then you would have:

Ik controleerde de meterkast na de lekkage.

That is also grammatical, but the emphasis is slightly different.

Controleerde is the simple past singular of the verb controleren (to check / to inspect).

Conjugation:

• infinitive: controleren
• present: ik controleer
• past: ik controleerde
• past participle: gecontroleerd

This is a regular weak verb, so the past tense is formed with -de here.

Examples:

• Ik controleer de deur. = I check the door.
• Ik controleerde de deur. = I checked the door.

Lekkage is a noun meaning a leak or leakage, usually in practical situations like water, gas, or a pipe problem.

It takes the article de, so it is:

• de lekkage

In English, leakage can sound more abstract, but in Dutch lekkage is very commonly used for a specific leak event or problem.

Examples:

• Er is een lekkage in het dak. = There is a leak in the roof.
• Na de lekkage belde hij een loodgieter. = After the leak, he called a plumber.

A meterkast is the cupboard or utility cabinet where a home’s electricity meter, fuse box, and often gas and water meters are located.

It is a very Dutch household word. In English, there is not always one perfect everyday equivalent. Depending on context, it might be translated as:

• meter cupboard
• utility cabinet
• fuse box area
• electrical cabinet

In many homes in the Netherlands, this is the place you would check after a leak, especially if you are worried about electricity.

The noun is de meterkast because the main part of the compound is kast, and kast is a de-word.

Dutch compounds usually take their gender/article from the last part of the compound:

• meter
  • kast = meterkast
• because kast is de kast, the compound is also de meterkast

More examples:

• de boekenkast because kast is a de-word
• het slaapkamerraam because raam is a het-word

Yes. Dutch very often writes compound nouns as one word.

So:

• meterkast = meter + cupboard/cabinet
• not meter kast

This is much more common in Dutch than in English. English often writes similar expressions as two words, but Dutch usually joins them.

Other examples:

• huisdeur = front door / house door
• badkamerraam = bathroom window
• waterleiding = water pipe / water supply line

Dutch does not need a comma or an extra linking word there. Na de lekkage functions as a prepositional phrase, and then the main clause continues directly.

So the structure is simply:

• Na = after
• de lekkage = the leak
• controleerde ik = I checked
• de meterkast = the meter cupboard / utility cabinet

A comma is possible in some writing styles after a fronted phrase, but it is often omitted in short sentences like this.

Yes, that is grammatical.

Both are possible:

• Na de lekkage controleerde ik de meterkast.
• Ik controleerde de meterkast na de lekkage.

The difference is mainly emphasis and information flow:

• Na de lekkage... puts the time/context first.
• Ik controleerde... starts with the subject and sounds a bit more neutral.

Dutch is flexible, but the verb-second rule still applies in main clauses.

Yes. De meterkast is the direct object of controleerde.

You can ask:

• Wat controleerde ik?
  De meterkast.

So:

• subject: ik
• verb: controleerde
• direct object: de meterkast

And Na de lekkage is an adverbial phrase giving time/context.

In this sentence, na means after in time.

But na can also be used in other ways, for example:

• na school = after school
• na het eten = after dinner
• een man van in de veertig, na de vijftig = approaching fifty / past fifty in age-related descriptions
• navraag doen naar / speuren naar is different and not the same na

For learners, the most important meaning is simply after.

Dutch has two common ways to talk about the past:

1. Simple past
   Ik controleerde de meterkast.

2. Present perfect
   Ik heb de meterkast gecontroleerd.

Both can often translate to English I checked or I have checked, depending on context.

The simple past here sounds natural for telling a past event in a narrative:

• first there was a leak
• then I checked the meter cupboard

So controleerde fits well in that storytelling style.

Yes. You can say both een lekkage and de lekkage, depending on whether it is indefinite or definite.

Examples:

• Er was een lekkage. = There was a leak.
• Na de lekkage controleerde ik de meterkast. = After the leak, I checked the meter cupboard.

So in this sentence, it is de lekkage because it refers to a specific leak already known from the context.