Literary style

Word order and vocabulary in literary Dutch

• Literary Dutch fronts words for emphasis, but the finite verb stays in second place: Groot was haar verbazing toen de deur openging. Nooit had hij zich zo eenzaam gevoeld.
• Nauwelijks … of (hardly … when): Nauwelijks was hij vertrokken, of de telefoon ging. A verb-first clause can replace als: Komt hij niet, dan gaan we zonder hem.
• Elevated words replace everyday ones: weldra (soon), wellicht (perhaps), ternauwernood (barely), onverhoeds (unexpectedly), allengs (gradually), terstond (immediately), doch (but, yet). Wellicht and doch also occur in formal writing; the rest sound literary or old-fashioned.
• To read a long literary sentence, find the finite verb of the main clause first, then its subject; everything else (fronted adverbs, participle phrases, subclauses) is decoration around that core.