Complex Subordinate Clauses in Dutch

Overview

By the time you reach B2, you are already comfortable with basic subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like dat, omdat, and als. Now it is time to handle more sophisticated structures: multiple embedded clauses, relative clauses with prepositions, and correlative constructions that give your Dutch a more natural, flowing quality.

Complex subordinate clauses are what separate intermediate speakers from advanced ones. They allow you to express nuanced ideas, build layered arguments, and follow the sophisticated sentence structures found in Dutch newspapers, academic texts, and formal speech. The central challenge remains word order -- Dutch requires verb-final position in subordinate clauses, and maintaining this across multiple nested clauses takes practice.

At this level, you will also learn correlative constructions like hoe...des te (the more...the more) and zowel...als (both...and), which are common in both written and spoken Dutch and add elegance to your expression.

How It Works

Nested Subordinate Clauses

Dutch allows multiple subordinate clauses to be embedded within each other. Each subordinate clause sends its verb to the end.

Structure	Example
Main + sub	Ik weet dat hij komt.
Main + sub + sub	Ik weet dat hij zei dat zij komt.
Main + sub + sub + sub	Ik denk dat hij weet dat zij zei dat het regent.

The verb cluster at the end of deeply nested clauses can stack up:

• Ik weet dat hij het boek had willen lezen. (I know that he had wanted to read the book.)

Relative Clauses with Prepositions

At A2-B1, you learned basic relative clauses with die and dat. At B2, you need relative clauses where the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition.

Pattern	Example	Translation
prep + wie (person)	de man met wie ik sprak	the man with whom I spoke
prep + wie (person)	de vrouw voor wie ik werk	the woman for whom I work
waar + prep (thing)	het boek waarover ik las	the book about which I read
waar + prep (thing)	de stoel waarop hij zit	the chair on which he sits

For things, Dutch uses waar- + preposition (fused together): waarover, waaraan, waarmee, waarin, waarop, etc.

For people, Dutch uses the preposition + wie: met wie, voor wie, aan wie, etc.

Correlative Constructions

These are paired expressions that create balanced or comparative structures.

Construction	Meaning	Example
hoe...des te / hoe...hoe	the more...the more	Hoe meer je leert, des te beter word je.
zowel...als	both...and	Zowel hij als zij is uitgenodigd.
noch...noch	neither...nor	Noch Jan noch Piet was aanwezig.
enerzijds...anderzijds	on one hand...on the other	Enerzijds is het duur, anderzijds is het goed.
niet alleen...maar ook	not only...but also	Niet alleen regent het, maar het waait ook.
of...of	either...or	Of je komt nu, of je komt helemaal niet.

Verb Order in Complex Clauses

When a subordinate clause contains an auxiliary + main verb, the verb cluster goes to the end. Dutch allows two orders in the cluster:

Order	Example	Region
Auxiliary-last (red)	...dat hij het boek gelezen heeft	More common in Netherlands
Auxiliary-first (green)	...dat hij het boek heeft gelezen	Common in Belgium and writing

Both orders are correct. The "red order" (past participle before auxiliary) is slightly more common in spoken Dutch in the Netherlands, while the "green order" is preferred in Belgium and formal writing.

With modal verbs + infinitive:

• ...dat hij het boek wil lezen (that he wants to read the book)
• ...dat hij het boek had willen lezen (that he had wanted to read the book)

Combining Clause Types

Natural Dutch mixes different clause types in a single sentence:

• De man met wie ik gisteren sprak, zei dat hij morgen komt. (The man with whom I spoke yesterday said that he is coming tomorrow.)
• Hoewel het regent, ga ik naar buiten, omdat ik frisse lucht nodig heb. (Although it is raining, I'm going outside because I need fresh air.)

Examples in Context

Dutch	English	Note
De man met wie ik sprak, zei dat het klaar was.	The man with whom I spoke said it was ready.	Relative clause + dat-clause
Hoe meer je leert, des te beter.	The more you learn, the better.	Correlative comparison
Ik vraag me af of hij weet dat zij komt.	I wonder if he knows that she's coming.	Double embedding
Zowel hij als zij is gekomen.	Both he and she have come.	Correlative pair
Het huis waarin wij wonen, is oud.	The house in which we live is old.	waar + in relative clause
Niet alleen is hij slim, maar hij is ook aardig.	Not only is he smart, but he is also kind.	Correlative with inversion
Ik weet niet of hij de brief die ik gestuurd heb, heeft gelezen.	I don't know if he has read the letter that I sent.	Triple nesting
De reden waarom hij kwam, was niet duidelijk.	The reason why he came was not clear.	waarom relative clause
Noch de leraar noch de leerlingen wisten het antwoord.	Neither the teacher nor the students knew the answer.	noch...noch
Het boek waarover je sprak, heb ik gekocht.	The book you talked about, I've bought.	Topicalized relative clause
Hoewel hij ziek was, ging hij toch naar school, omdat hij een examen had.	Although he was sick, he still went to school because he had an exam.	Two subordinate clauses

Common Mistakes

Using Die/Dat Instead of Waar- with Prepositions for Things

• Wrong: Het boek dat ik over las...
• Right: Het boek waarover ik las...
• Why: When a relative pronoun for a thing is governed by a preposition, you must fuse waar- with the preposition. You cannot use dat or die after a preposition for things.

Wrong Verb Position in Nested Clauses

• Wrong: Ik weet dat hij heeft het boek gelezen.
• Right: Ik weet dat hij het boek gelezen heeft. or ...het boek heeft gelezen.
• Why: In subordinate clauses, all verbs move to the end. The finite verb cannot stay in second position.

Subject-Verb Agreement with Zowel...Als

• Wrong: Zowel hij als zij zijn gekomen. (using plural)
• Right: Zowel hij als zij is gekomen. (singular, formally correct)
• Why: Strictly speaking, zowel...als takes singular agreement when the individual subjects are singular, though plural is increasingly accepted in informal Dutch.

Forgetting Inversion After a Subordinate Clause

• Wrong: Omdat het regent, ik blijf thuis.
• Right: Omdat het regent, blijf ik thuis.
• Why: When a subordinate clause comes first, it occupies the first position of the main clause, triggering inversion (verb before subject).

Usage Notes

Complex subordinate clauses are more common in written Dutch than in casual speech. In conversation, Dutch speakers often break long sentences into shorter ones or use coordinating conjunctions instead. Very deep nesting (three or more levels) is mainly a feature of academic, legal, and literary writing.

In Belgium, the "green" verb order (heeft gelezen rather than gelezen heeft) is strongly preferred even in speech. If you are learning Dutch primarily for use in Flanders, adopt this order. In the Netherlands, both orders are used, with the "red" order slightly more frequent in everyday speech.

The correlative hoe...des te is considered slightly more formal than hoe...hoe. In spoken Dutch, you will often hear hoe meer je leert, hoe beter instead of des te beter.

Practice Tips

• Take a paragraph from a Dutch news article and identify every subordinate clause. Draw brackets around each one and note the conjunction and verb position. This builds structural awareness.
• Practice building sentences with waar- + preposition by taking verb-preposition combinations you know (denken aan, praten over, wachten op) and forming relative clauses with them.
• Write short paragraphs using at least two correlative constructions. Then read them aloud to check that they sound natural and the word order is correct.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Subordinating Conjunctions -- basic subordinate clause structure with verb-final order
• Next steps: Stylistic Inversion -- advanced word order variation for emphasis and style