In Dutch, when you combine a modal verb with another verb, the two verbs split apart to form a sentence bracket. The conjugated modal verb stays near the front, while the second verb in its infinitive form travels all the way to the very end of the sentence. In this deck, you will learn how to arrange words neatly inside this bracket.

In a standard statement, the conjugated modal verb sits in second position, directly after the subject. Any extra information like time or location sits in the middle, and the second action verb appears as a bare infinitive at the very end. For example, 'Ik wil morgen naar Amsterdam gaan' means 'I want to go to Amsterdam tomorrow'.

When you negate a sentence with 'niet', time expressions come first, followed by 'niet', and then prepositional phrases of place or direction. The infinitive verb remains strictly at the end. For instance, 'Hij kan vanavond helaas niet komen' means 'Unfortunately, he cannot come tonight'.