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Manner: how?
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For this component, we ask "How?"

Manner

The first thing you think about is the manner in which an act was carried out or the circumstances under which an event took place. But MANNER is broader, as it also answers questions like:

  • How long?
  • How frequently?
  • To what degree?
  • With whom/what?
  • Because of whom/what?
  • Despite whom/what?

If you look at the graph above, the word order must seem quite clear-cut. Unfortunately, MANNER does not really abide by it, as it rather places itself wherever it suits. I chose to stick to the traditional TIME-MANNER-PLACE order anyway, because it will work just fine for those of you who only just started learning the Dutch word order. In general, you would not be wrong. But if you open a book or newspaper, you will see that the TIME-PLACE-MANNER order is just as common.

A more accurate depiction of reality would be:

The middle part: manner, er/hier/daar, manner, time, manner, place, manner

The problem is that you cannot randomly pick a place for MANNER. Sometimes it is okay to put it before TIME, sometimes it appears after PLACE. Examples will be added to show the different occurrances of MANNER, but in the meantime you might as well stick to the TIME-MANNER-PLACE order.


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Last updated on May 19, 2007 ::