Grammatica - loco

11
Verbs
232
11.9.2.2
It is never used after modal verbs, i.e. when a modal is the finite verb in
the clause. Dutch usually shares this feature with English:
Hij kan het niet doen.
He can’t do it/He isn’t able to do it. (can = is able to)
Wij hebben tien boeken moeten lezen.
We had to read ten books. (‘had to’ is the past tense of ‘has to’ = must)
Note the English modal ‘to want to’, where a ‘to’ is used (compare ‘to be
able to’ and ‘to have to’ above), unlike Dutch:
Hij wil gaan. He wants to go.
Hij moet gaan. He has to go.
11.9.2.3
The auxiliary hoeven, which is used to form the negative of moeten, is
commonly followed by te, unlike the true modals (see 11.8.5.2).
11.9.2.4
The verbs durven ‘to dare’, staan ‘to stand’, liggen ‘to lie’, lopen ‘to walk’,
and zitten ‘to sit’ behave in a similar way to hoeven, i.e. in the present
and imperfect tenses they require a te to precede any infinitive dependent
on them, but not in the perfect (i.e. not in double infinitive constructions,
see 11.8.2):
Durf je dat te doen?
Do you dare (to) do that?
Dat heb ik nooit durven (te) zeggen. (te is optional with the
perfect of durven)
I never dared (to) say that.
Hij zit een boek te lezen.
He’s sitting reading a book.
Hij heeft de hele dag een boek zitten lezen.
He has been (sitting) reading a book all day.
Zij stond naar een koe te kijken.
She stood looking at a cow.