Dutch. A linguistic history of Holland and Belgium

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7 Word Order

Word order is probably the most difficult aspect of grammar to explain simply and concisely, but in a work such as this it is fortunately not necessary to go into great detail about the syntax of the language. I will confine myself to the main differences from English on the one hand and German on the other, with which language Dutch has much in common syntactically but also several quite striking differences.

The most crucial aspect of word order in Dutch is the place of the verb(s) in a sentence. As in German, the golden rule is that the finite verb usually stands in second position (i.e. is always the second idea in the sentence) e.g.

1	2		1	2
He	went	to school today	Hij	ging	vandaag naar school.

Compare:

1	2	3		1	2	3
Today	he	went	to school	Vandaag	ging	hij	naar school.

Of course in questions the finite verb is always in first position e.g. Did he go to school today? Ging hij vandaag naar school?^1. But in subordinate and relative clauses the finite verb stands at the end, as in German e.g. I know that he is going to school today - Ik weet dat hij vandaag naar school gaat.^2.

Also as in German, when a compound sentence begins with a subordinate clause, the subject and verb of the main clause are inverted so as to keep the finite verb in that clause in second position in the sentence as a whole e.g.

1. As in English, this word order is also possible in the following rather literary sounding (formerly) subjunctive constructions: Mocht het regenen, dan zullen we thuis blijven Should it rain, we'll stay at home; Komt hij wat later, dan kan hij niet meedoen Should he come a bit later, he won't be able to take part.

2. There is one notable exception to the rules for placing verbs at the end of clauses: it is common in somewhat longer clauses containing adverbial expressions, to put these adjuncts after the verb, provided they begin with a preposition i.e. prepositional adjuncts. In such cases the verb is not last, but it is also not in the position it is in either English or German e.g. I know he was very interested in music - Ik weet dat hij erg veel belangstelling had voor muziek, but also: Ik weet dat hij erg veel belangstelling voor muziek had; I then rang him up in the hospital - Ik heb hem toen opgebeld in het ziekenhuis, but also: Ik heb hem toen in het ziekenhuis opgebeld. In short, this addition of extra information after the verb in instances where it ‘should’ be last, is quite possible in writing as well as speech and is often preferred. It gives the speaker a somewhat greater freedom of word order than is the case in German.

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1 2
Ik blijf thuis als hij naar school gaat	- I stay at home when he goes to school, but

1	2
Als hij naar school gaat, blijf ik thuis.

When there are two or more verbs in a main clause i.e. a finite verb plus a past participle or one or more infinitives, all but the finite verb go to the end of the clause (see example 2 in footnote 2 for an exception) e.g. He wants to go to school today - Hij wil vandaag naar school gaan; He has gone to school today - Hij is vandaag naar school gegaan.

When there are two or more infinitives in addition to the finite verb which must stand at the end of the clause, the sequence follows English practice, not German i.e.

1	2	3	1	2	3
He will have to do it.			Hij zal het moeten doen.
Compare German:			1	3	2
			Er wird es machen müssen.

When one of the verbs that follow the finite verb is a past participle a certain choice is possible, unlike in German e.g.

1	2	3	1	2	3
He must have built the house			Hij moet het huis hebben gebouwd.
or			1	3	2
			Hij moet het huis gebouwd hebben.
Compare German:			1	3	2
			Er muβ das Haus gebaut haben.

Separable verbs can behave quite differently in Dutch than in German for once again there is a greater freedom of word order in Dutch e.g. He does not know that I telephoned^3. him yesterday -

Hij weet niet dat ik hem gisteren heb opgebeld
	opgebeld heb
	op heb gebeld.

He said that he also wanted^3. to go along -

Hij zei dat hij ook heeft willen meegaan.
	mee heeft willen gaan.

3. English imperfects are often rendered by perfect tenses in Dutch (see p. 65).

3. English imperfects are often rendered by perfect tenses in Dutch (see p. 65).

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The last example in both the above instances is the most common in spoken Dutch, although all three forms are permissible and common in both speech and writing. The splitting up of forms that logically belong together is a characteristic of Dutch, particularly when compared with German; Dutch grammarians have a term for it, tangconstructies (tang = tongs).

Tangconstructies are most frequent with er+ prepositions (i.e. lit. there + preposition as in thereon, therein etc.) and waar + preposition (i.e. lit. where + preposition as in whereon, wherein etc.). Such split constructions are also common in English, but not in standard German, although they are used in the spoken language in certain areas of Germany e.g.

1	I put my money in it-	Ik stopte mijn geld erin (lit. therein)
	but more common is:	Ik stopte er mijn geld in.
	Compare German:	Ich steckte mein Geld darin.
2	The table (which) I put the book on is very high - De tafel waarop ik het boek legde, is erg hoog (lit. whereon)
	but more common is: De tafel waar ik het boek op legde, is erg hoog.
	Compare German: Der Tisch, auf dem (or worauf) ich das Buch legte, ist sehr hoch.^4.

After the difficulty of placing the verbs in their correct position comes the problem of where adverbs and adverbial phrases should stand, particularly in relation to each other. Dutch, like German, knows the TMP rule (i.e. Time, Manner, Place) which, although not always adhered to in the case of smaller, very frequent adverbs such as daar or er (there) and hier (here), is a good rule of thumb; English usually employs the reverse order.

e.g.	She goes to school by train every day	- PMT
	Zij gaat iedere dag met de trein naar school	- TMP

As in English, it is possible to start a sentence with an adverb of time i.e. Iedere dag gaat zij met de trein naar school. This is possible in Dutch because time is still mentioned before manner and place.

Adjectival adjuncts are possible in Dutch and are quite often found in journalese, but they are not at all common in speech nor as common in writing as in German, relative clauses being preferred in Dutch e.g. de vijfenvijftigjarige in Haarlem geboren minister van financiën but more common is the following: de vijfenvijftigjarige minister van financiën die in Haarlem geboren is - the fifty-five year old minister of finance who was born in Haarlem.

The loss of case (see p. 59) in Dutch has, as in English, led to a more fixed word order than is the case in German. For example, whereas the German sentence Der Hund beiβt den Mann can be inverted for emphasis i.e. Den Mann beiβt der Hund without the basic meaning changing, this is rarely done in Dutch, and never in English, as the word order is the only remaining indicator of the relationship of the nouns to each other e.g. The dog bites the man / De hond bijt de man. A more fixed

4. In certain areas in Germany the following construction, which resembles the Dutch, is also heard: Der Tisch, wo das Buch 'rauf liegt, ist sehr hoch.

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word order has thus been one of the consequences of the loss of case in Dutch and English, as well as in French, Italian etc. compared with Latin. The speaker of English is often inclined to see case as an unnecessary complication, but here is at least one concrete example of the advantages of preserving case.

In the English sentence ‘I showed the boy the group’, it is only the position of boy before group that indicates what is direct and what is indirect object. We know intuitively that it is the group which is being shown to the boy and not vice versa. Exactly the same situation exists in Dutch. Ik heb de jongen de groep laten zien. If one wanted to reverse the order, the preposition to/aan would be required in both English and Dutch e.g. I showed the group to the boy Ik liet de groep aan de jongen zien; a more frequent use of prepositions is also a consequence of the loss of case.

Bibliography

There are few studies of syntax but none which would be of any assistance to the non-native-speaker. The index of the author's reference grammar (see p. 69) refers readers to all sections of that book that deal with word order.