Afterthought Position

Level 5

Right Dislocation (Afterthought Position) involves placing a noun at the very end of a sentence, separated by a comma, to clarify a pronoun like hij, ze, or dat that appeared earlier in the clause.

How It Works

Right Dislocation is a hallmark of natural, informal Dutch speech. It serves two main purposes: clarification (adding info the speaker thinks the listener might have missed) and emphasis (highlighting the topic).

Key structural rules include:

  • The Correlate: The main sentence must contain a pronoun (the correlate) that matches the 'afterthought' in gender and number.
  • The Comma: In writing, a comma always separates the main clause from the dislocated phrase. In speech, this is marked by a brief pause and a drop in pitch.
  • Word Order: Because the afterthought sits outside the main clause, it does not trigger V2 inversion or affect the position of the verbs.
  • Register: This is very common in spoken Dutch but is usually avoided in formal writing unless quoting dialogue.

Examples (4)

  1. Ze is echt heel aardig, die nieuwe buurvrouw van je.

    She is really very nice, that new neighbor of yours.

    Word by Word: She is really very nice, that new neighbor of yours.

    The pronoun 'ze' (she) is clarified at the end by the specific noun phrase 'die nieuwe buurvrouw van je'.

  2. Ik heb het gisteren eindelijk gezien, dat nieuwe museum.

    I finally saw it yesterday, that new museum.

    Word by Word: I have it yesterday finally seen, that new museum.

    Here, 'hem' refers to the museum. Note that 'museum' is a het-word, but in informal speech, 'hem' is often used for objects.

  3. Ze zijn erg lekker, deze appels.

    They are very tasty, these apples.

    Word by Word: They are very tasty, these apples.

    The plural pronoun 'ze' matches the plural noun 'appels' added at the end.

  4. Ik vind 'm niks, die film.

    I don't like it at all, that movie.

    Word by Word: I find him nothing, that movie.

    Using the reduced pronoun 'm (hem) makes this sound very natural and colloquial.

Common Mistakes

  • Omitting the internal pronoun (the correlate).

    Different MeaningIs erg aardig, je zus.
    Ze is erg aardig, je zus.

    Dropping the subject is heard in casual speech, but the standard sentence repeats a pronoun such as 'ze' before the noun at the end, as in the right sentence.

  • Using 'het' where 'm points at the film itself.

    Different MeaningIk vind het niks, die film.
    Ik vind 'm niks, die film.

    'Ik vind het niks, die film' is correct: 'het' can point to the whole matter. 'Ik vind 'm niks, die film' points to the film itself and is also common.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Afterthought PositionLevel 5

Learn This First

Right dislocation (afterthought position) involves completing a sentence and then adding a specific noun or phrase at the end to clarify a pronoun used earlier. To learn this, learners need to understand how pronouns refer to nouns and be comfortable with basic sentence boundaries in Dutch.