# Max Havelaar, Chapter 6

Max Havelaar · Multatuli · The Novel

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/havelaar/hoofdstuk-6. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/havelaar/hoofdstuk-6.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/havelaar/<line id>.m4a.


ZESDE HOOFDSTUK  
CHAPTER SIX

De kontroleur Verbrugge was een goed mensch.  
The controller Verbrugge was a good man.
> Weak past was; uninflected goed: was is the simple past of zijn. After the indefinite een, the neuter het-word mensch leaves goed uninflected — the one case where an attributive adjective drops the -e.

Als men hem daar zag zitten in zyn blauw-lakenschen frak, met geborduurde eiken- en oranjetakken op kraag en mouw-opslagen, was 't moeielyk in hem den type te miskennen die voorheerscht onder de Hollanders in Indie ... een menschensoort, in 't voorbygaan gezegd, die zeer onderscheiden is van de Hollanders in Holland.  
Seeing him sit there in his blue broadcloth dress-coat, with embroidered oak and orange sprigs on collar and cuffs, it was hard not to recognize in him the type that prevails among the Dutchmen in the Indies — a breed of men, be it said in passing, very different from the Dutchmen in Holland.
> Perception zien + bare infinitive zitten: zag zitten ('saw [him] sit') is a perception verb with a bare infinitive; the long als-clause fronted forces inversion was 't, and the extraposed te-infinitive te miskennen completes it.
> Relative die + present-tense voorheerscht: die opens a relative clause with the simple-present voorheerscht ('prevails'); den type keeps the old accusative den.

Traag zoolang er niets te doen viel, en ver van de beredderingzucht die in Europa voor yver geldt, maar yverig waar bezigheid noodig was ... eenvoudig maar hartelyk voor wie tot zyn omgeving behoorden ... mededeelzaam, hulpvaardig en gastvry ... welgemanierd zonder styfheid ... vatbaar voor goede indrukken ... eerlyk en oprecht, zonder evenwel lust te voelen de martelaar van deze hoedanigheden te worden ... in 't kort, hy was een man die, zooals men 't noemt, overal op zyn plaats zou wezen, zonder dat men echter op 't denkbeeld komen zou de eeuw naar hem te noemen, wat hy dan ook niet begeerde.  
Sluggish so long as there was nothing to do, and far from the meddlesome fussiness that passes for zeal in Europe, yet diligent wherever work was needed; plain but warm-hearted toward those of his own circle; open-handed, obliging, and hospitable; well-mannered without stiffness; receptive to good impressions; honest and sincere, though without feeling any urge to become a martyr to these qualities — in short, he was a man who, as the saying goes, would be in his right place anywhere, without anyone's ever taking it into his head to name the age after him, which he himself did not in fact desire.
> zoolang / waar subordinators + er ... te doen: zoolang ('as long as') and waar ('wherever') open verb-final clauses (viel, was); er niets te doen ('nothing to do') combines existential er with a te-infinitive.
> zonder dat + conditional komen zou: zonder dat ('without [it being the case] that') subordinates; komen zou is the conditional ('would come to'), and the te-infinitive de eeuw ... te noemen completes the thought.
> beredderingzucht — 'bustling fussiness': A coined compound: beredderen ('to bustle about, set in order') + zucht ('a craving, mania'). Multatuli mocks the busy officiousness that passes for diligence in Europe, praising Verbrugge's calmer worth.

Hy zat in 't midden van de pendoppo by de tafel die met een wit kleed bedekt, en met spyzen beladen was.  
He sat in the middle of the pendoppo, at the table that was covered with a white cloth and laden with food.
> Zijn-passive (state): bedekt ... beladen was: Two participles share one zijn-auxiliary at the end — bedekt ... en ... beladen was ('was covered ... and laden') — describing a resulting state, not an action.

Wel eenigszins ongeduldig vroeg hy van-tyd tot-tyd, met de woorden der zuster van mevrouw Blauwbaard, aan den mandoor-oppasser, dat is het hoofd van de policie- en bureaudienaren der adsistent-residentie, of er niets in aantocht was?  
From time to time, somewhat impatiently, he asked — in the words of Bluebeard's wife's sister — of the mandoor-oppasser, that is, the head of the police and the office-servants of the assistant-residency, whether nothing was on its way yet.
> Indirect yes/no question with of: of ('whether') opens an indirect question, sending its verb was to the end; er ... in aantocht ('on its way') uses existential er for the awaited food.

Dan stond hy eens op, beproefde vergeefs zyn sporen te doen kletteren op den gestampten kleivloer van de pendoppo, stak voor de twintigste maal zyn sigaar aan, en ging, als te-leurgesteld, weer zitten.  
Now and then he stood up, tried in vain to make his spurs clatter on the stamped clay floor of the pendoppo, lit his cigar for the twentieth time, and, as if disappointed, sat back down again.
> Separable verbs in narrative past: A chain of separable verbs splits in the simple past: stond ... op (opstaan), stak ... aan (aansteken), ging ... zitten (gaan zitten) — the prefixes stranded at each clause end.
> Causative doen + bare infinitive kletteren: doen kletteren ('to make clatter') is causative doen with a bare infinitive; beproefde ... te doen embeds it under a te-infinitive governed by beproeven ('to try').

Hy sprak weinig. En toch had hy kùnnen spreken, want hy was niet alleen.  
He said little. And yet he could have spoken, for he was not alone.
> Modal in the perfect: had kunnen spreken: had ... kùnnen spreken ('could have spoken') uses the bare-infinitive modal in the perfect (IPP). The accent on kùnnen marks the stressed contrast with his actual silence.
> Coordinator want (no inversion): want ('for, because') is a coordinating conjunction: it gives a reason but, unlike omdat, does NOT send the verb to the end — hy was stays in normal order.

Ik bedoel hiermee nu juist niet dat hy vergezeld was van de twintig of dertig Javanen, bedienden, mantries en oppassers die op den grond gehurkt in en buiten de pendoppo zaten, noch van de velen die aanhoudend uit-en inliepen, noch van 't groot aantal inlanders van verschillenden rang, dat daar buiten de paarden vasthield, of te-paard rondreed ... neen, de Regent zelf van Lebak, Radhen Adhipatti Karta Natta Nagara, zat tegenover hem.  
By this I do not mean precisely that he was accompanied by the twenty or thirty Javanese — servants, mantries, and oppassers — who sat crouched on the ground inside and outside the pendoppo, nor by the many who kept running in and out, nor by the great number of natives of various rank who held the horses out there or rode about on horseback — no, the Regent of Lebak himself, Radhen Adhipatti Karta Natta Nagara, sat facing him.
> Correlative noch ... noch: The literary noch ... noch ('neither ... nor') strings the list of those whose company is dismissed, before the emphatic neen turns to the Regent himself.

Wachten is altyd vervelend. Een kwartier duurt een uur, een uur een halven dag, en zoo voort.  
Waiting is always tedious. A quarter of an hour drags on like an hour, an hour like half a day, and so on.
> Gnomic present + accusative een halven dag: The simple present states a general truth ('a quarter of an hour lasts like an hour'); een halven dag keeps the old masculine accusative -en on the adjective.

Verbrugge had wel wat spraakzamer mogen zyn.  
Verbrugge might well have been a little more talkative.
> Modal in perfect + comparative: had ... mogen zyn ('might well have been') uses the bare-infinitive modal in the perfect; spraakzamer is the comparative ('more talkative'), softened by wel wat ('a little').

De Regent van Lebak was een beschaafd oud man, die over veel wist te spreken met verstand en oordeel. Men had hem slechts aantezien om overtuigd te wezen dat het meerendeel der Europeanen die met hem in aanraking kwamen, meer van hem, dan hy van hen te leeren had.  
The Regent of Lebak was a cultivated old man who could speak about a great many things with sense and judgment. One had only to look at him to be convinced that the majority of the Europeans who came into contact with him had more to learn from him than he from them.
> weten te + infinitive: weten te ('to know how to') governs te spreken ('to speak'); the relative die opens the verb-final clause. wist is the past of weten.
> hebben ... te + infinitive + om...te: had ... aantezien (aan-te-zien, 'had only to look at') expresses sufficiency; the om ... te wezen clause states the result ('to be convinced'). dan ... te leeren is a comparison.

Zyn levendige donkere oogen weerspraken door hun vuur de vermoeidheid der trekken van zyn gelaat en de grysheid zyner haren.  
His lively dark eyes belied, by their fire, the weariness of the features of his face and the grayness of his hair.
> Strong past weerspraken + genitive zyner: weerspraken is the strong plural past of weerspreken ('belied'); zyner haren is the inflected genitive of zijn ('of his hair').

Wat hy zeide, was gewoonlyk lang overdacht--een eigenaardigheid trouwens die by den beschaafden Oosterling algemeen is--en wanneer men met hem in gesprek was, gevoelde men dat men zyn woorden te beschouwen had als brieven, waarvan hy de minuut in zyn archief had, om zoo noodig daarop te verwyzen.  
What he said had usually been long considered — a peculiarity, by the way, that is general among cultivated Orientals — and when one was in conversation with him, one felt that one had to regard his words as letters of which he kept the draft in his files, so as to refer back to them if need be.
> Free relative Wat + zijn-passive overdacht: Wat ('what[ever]') without antecedent opens a verb-final clause (zeide); was ... overdacht is a state-passive ('had been considered').
> wanneer-clause then inversion: wanneer ('when') opens a verb-final clause (was); the main clause inverts gevoelde men because the subordinate clause occupies the first position.
> minuut — 'the file copy/draft': Here minuut is not 'minute' of time but the bureaucratic minuut: the retained draft of a letter. The simile casts the Regent's deliberate speech as official correspondence kept on file.

Dit nu moge onaangenaam schynen voor wie niet gewoon is aan den omgang met javaansche grooten, 't is niet moeielyk alle onderwerpen van gesprek die aanstoot geven kunnen, te vermyden, vooral daar zy van hùn kant nooit op bruske wyze aan den loop van 't onderhoud een andere richting geven zullen, omdat dit naar oostersche begrippen in-stryd wezen zou met den goeden toon.  
Now this may seem disagreeable to anyone unaccustomed to dealing with Javanese grandees; yet it is not hard to avoid all subjects of conversation that might give offense, all the more so because they, for their part, will never abruptly steer the course of the exchange in another direction, since by Eastern notions this would be at odds with good manners.
> Subjunctive moge + free relative voor wie: moge is the present subjunctive of mogen ('this may seem'); voor wie ('for whoever') is a free relative opening a verb-final clause.
> Causal omdat + conditional wezen zou: omdat ('because') subordinates, sending the conditional wezen zou ('would be') to the end. den goeden toon keeps the old accusative den + adjectival -en.

Wie dus oorzaak heeft het aanroeren van een bepaald punt te vermyden, behoeft slechts over onbeduidende zaken te spreken, en hy kan verzekerd zyn dat een javaansch hoofd hem niet, door een onbegeerde wending in 't gesprek, zal voeren op een terrein dat hy liever niet betrad.  
Whoever, then, has reason to avoid broaching a particular point need only speak of trivial matters, and he can be assured that a Javanese chief will not, by some unwished-for turn in the conversation, lead him onto ground he would rather not tread.
> Free relative Wie + behoeven te + infinitive: Wie ('whoever') opens a verb-final clause; behoeft slechts ... te spreken ('need only speak') expresses minimal sufficiency with behoeven te + infinitive.
> Relative dat for a het-word: Because terrein is a neuter het-word, the relative pronoun is dat (not die); the clause is verb-final (betrad, past of betreden).

Over de beste wijze van omgang met die hoofden, bestaan overigens verschillende meeningen.  
On the best manner of dealing with these chiefs, opinions, moreover, differ.
> Fronted PP triggers inversion: The prepositional phrase Over de beste wijze... fronts, so the verb bestaan precedes its subject verschillende meeningen — V2 with a non-subject first.

Het komt my voor dat eenvoudige oprechtheid, zonder streven naar diplomatische voorzichtigheid, de voorkeur verdient.  
It seems to me that plain sincerity, without any striving after diplomatic caution, deserves the preference.
> Impersonal het + separable voorkomen: Het komt my voor ('it seems to me') uses dummy het with the separable voorkomen split as komt ... voor and an old dative my; the dat-clause's verb verdient is final.

Hoe dit zy, Verbrugge begon met een banale opmerking over 't weêr en den regen.  
However that may be, Verbrugge began with a banal remark about the weather and the rain.
> Concessive subjunctive Hoe dit zy: Hoe dit zy ('however that may be') is a fixed concessive using the subjunctive zy of zijn. weêr (weer) shows the period circumflex for the dropped consonant.

--Ja, mynheer de kontroleur, het is westmoesson.  
"Yes, mijnheer the controller, it is the west monsoon."
> westmoesson — the west monsoon: moesson (from Malay/Portuguese) is the monsoon; the westmoesson is the rainy season on Java, roughly November to March. The Regent states the obvious — it is January — to fill the silence.

Dit nu wist Verbrugge wel: men was in Januari.  
Now this Verbrugge knew well enough: it was January.
> Object-fronting Dit + inversion: Fronting the object Dit ('this') inverts wist Verbrugge ('Verbrugge knew this well'); the impersonal men ('one, they') serves as a vague subject.

Maar wat hy over den regen gezegd had, wist de Regent ook.  
But what he had said about the rain, the Regent knew too.
> Fronted free-relative object + inversion: The free relative wat hy ... gezegd had ('what he had said', a verb-final pluperfect) fills the first slot, so the main verb wist inverts before de Regent.

Hierop volgde weder eenig zwygen.  
To this there followed once again a certain silence.
> Fronted phrase, verb second: The clause opens with the pronominal adverb 'hierop' (on this / to this), which fills the first slot, so the finite verb 'volgde' must come second, before the subject 'eenig zwygen'. This inversion is the V2 rule, the backbone of Dutch main-clause word order.
> weder = 'again': An archaic, literary form of modern 'weer' (again). Throughout this passage Multatuli favours the fuller older spelling. Note 'zwygen' (with y for ij) is the infinitive used as a neuter noun: 'a silence'.

De Regent wenkte met een nauw zichtbare beweging van 't hoofd, een der bedienden die neergehurkt zaten aan den ingang der pendoppo. Een kleine jongen, allerliefst gevat in een blauw-fluweelen buis, witten pantalon, met gouden lyfband die zyn kostbaren sarong, vasthield om de lenden, en op 't hoofd den behagelyken kain kapala, waaronder zyn zwarte oogen zoo ondeugend te-voorschyn kwamen, kroop hurkende tot aan de voeten des Regents, zette de gouden doos neder, die de tabak, de kalk, de sirie, de pinang, en de gambier bevatte, maakte den slamat, door beide handen saamgevoegd opteheffen tot aan het diep neergebogen voorhoofd, en bood daarop zyn heer de kostbare doos aan.  
With a barely perceptible movement of his head, the Regent beckoned one of the servants who sat crouched at the entrance of the pendoppo. A small boy, charmingly attired in a blue velvet jacket, white trousers, with a golden waistband that held his costly sarong fast about his loins, and on his head the becoming kain kapala, from beneath which his black eyes peeped out so mischievously, crept crouching up to the Regent's feet, set down the golden box that held the tobacco, the lime, the sirie, the pinang, and the gambier, made the slamat by raising both joined hands to his deeply bowed forehead, and thereupon offered his master the precious box.
> Genitive plural 'der': 'een der bedienden' = 'one of the servants', using the frozen genitive article 'der' instead of modern 'van de'. The same construction recurs as 'den ingang der pendoppo' (the entrance of the pendoppo). These case-remnants are everywhere in 1860 prose.
> Masculine genitive 'des … -s': 'tot aan de voeten des Regents' ('up to the Regent's feet') is the old genitive singular: the article 'des' plus an -s on the noun, the Dutch parallel to German 'des Regenten'. By 1860 this survives only in solemn or set phrases.
> Verb-final relative clauses: The relative pronouns 'die' ('die … zaten', who sat) and 'die' ('die … bevatte', which held) each open a subordinate clause whose finite verb is pushed to the very end. 'die' is the relative form for de-words and plurals.
> Separable verbs split apart: 'neerzetten' (to set down) and 'aanbieden' (to offer) are separable verbs; in this main clause the stems stand early ('zette', 'bood') while the prefixes 'neder' and 'aan' are flung to the clause-end. 'opteheffen' (= op te heffen, to raise up) shows the same prefix written into the te-infinitive.
> Diminutive and a chain of past tenses: 'jongetje' would be the diminutive; here the noun is plain 'jongen' (boy). The narrative runs in the simple past (imperfect): strong 'kroop' (from kruipen) and strong 'bood' (from bieden) versus weak 'zette' (zetten) and 'maakte' (maken). The imperfect is Dutch's storytelling tense.
> Period spelling: y for ij: Throughout, 'y' stands for modern 'ij': 'zyn' = zijn (his), 'lyfband' = lijfband (waistband). This Siegenbeek-era convention is one of the surest marks of an 1860 Dutch page.

--De weg zal moeielyk zyn na zooveel regen, zei de Regent, als om 't lang wachten verklaarbaar te maken, terwyl hy een betelblad met kalk bestreek.  
"The road will be difficult after so much rain," said the Regent, as if to account for the long wait, while he spread lime on a betel leaf.
> Future with 'zullen': 'zal … zyn' is the explicit future: the auxiliary 'zullen' is conjugated in second position ('zal') and the main verb 'zyn' (to be) drops to the clause-end as a bare infinitive.
> om … te (purpose): '(als) om … te maken' frames a purpose clause, 'as if to make … explicable'. 'om' opens it and the te-infinitive 'te maken' closes it, with the object 'het lang wachten' sitting in between.
> Subordinator 'terwyl' sends verb to end: 'terwyl' (while) is a subordinating conjunction, so its clause is verb-final: the object 'een betelblad met kalk' precedes the finite verb 'bestreek' (smeared), the strong past of 'bestrijken'.

--In 't Pandeglangsche is de weg zoo slecht niet, antwoordde Verbrugge die, als hy ten-minste niets stuitends wilde aanroeren, dit antwoord wel wat ondoordacht gaf. Want hy had moeten bedenken dat een Regent van Lebak niet gaarne de wegen van Pandeglang hoort roemen, al zyn die dan ook werkelyk beter dan in 't Lebaksche.  
"In the Pandeglang district the road is not so bad," answered Verbrugge, who — if at least he meant to broach nothing jarring — gave this reply rather thoughtlessly. For he ought to have considered that a Regent of Lebak does not gladly hear the roads of Pandeglang praised, even if they really are better than those in the Lebak district.
> 'niet' negating an adjective: Because the predicate is the adjective 'slecht' (bad), negation uses 'niet', not 'geen' (geen only negates indefinite nouns). The trailing 'niet' here lands after the degree phrase 'zoo slecht', a common period word order.
> 'want' coordinates; pluperfect modal: 'want' (for/because) is a coordinating conjunction, so it does NOT send the verb to the end. The clause then stacks 'had moeten bedenken' (ought to have considered): pluperfect 'had' + the modal infinitive 'moeten' + main infinitive 'bedenken'.
> Concessive 'al' with inversion: 'al … (dan ook)' means 'even if / although', and triggers inversion: the verb 'zyn' comes before the subject 'die'. 'beter' is the comparative of 'goed' (good).
> gaarne = 'gladly': A literary adverb, 'gladly / willingly' (modern colloquial 'graag'). 'niet gaarne … hoort roemen' = 'does not gladly hear praised'.

De Adhipatti beging de fout van een te snel antwoord niet.  
The Adhipatti did not commit the fault of too quick a reply.
> Sentence negation with 'niet': Here 'niet' negates the whole verb phrase ('did not commit the fault'), and stands at the very end after the full object 'de fout van een te snel antwoord'. End-position 'niet' closing a clause is typical Dutch.

De kleine maas was reeds al hurkend achterwaarts teruggekropen tot aan den ingang der pendoppo, waar hy onder zyn makkers plaats nam ... de Regent had reeds zyn lippen en weinige tanden bruinrood geverwd met het speeksel zyner sirie, voor hy zeide:  
The little fellow had already crept backwards, still crouching, to the entrance of the pendoppo, where he took his place among his comrades — the Regent had already stained his lips and few teeth brownish-red with the juice of his sirie, before he said:
> Pluperfect with 'zyn': 'was … teruggekropen' is the pluperfect (past-behind-the-past): imperfect 'was' + the past participle of motion verb 'terugkruipen'. Verbs of movement take 'zijn', not 'hebben', as their auxiliary.
> Feminine genitive 'zyner': 'zyner' is the inflected genitive of the possessive 'zyn' (his), agreeing with 'sirie' as a feminine/old genitive: 'with the saliva of his sirie'. The possessive carries an old case ending, much as German 'seiner'.
> Relative adverb 'waar' + verb-final: 'waar' (where) opens a relative clause that is verb-final: the separable verb 'plaats nemen' (to take a seat) closes it as 'plaats nam'. Note the prefix-like noun 'plaats' clings to the end with the finite verb.
> 'maas' = the page-boy: A Malay-derived word for the little serving boy of the earlier scene, here called 'de kleine maas' (the little fellow). The English renders it 'the little fellow'.

--Ja, er is veel volk in Pandeglang.  
"Yes, there are many people in Pandeglang."

Voor wien den Regent en den kontroleur kende, voor wien de toestand van Lebak geen geheim was, had het duidelyk kunnen blyken dat het gesprek reeds een stryd was geworden.  
To anyone who knew the Regent and the controller, to anyone for whom the state of Lebak was no secret, it might plainly have appeared that the conversation had already become a contest.
> Relative 'wien' without antecedent: 'wien' is the (dative/oblique) relative pronoun 'whom', used here without an antecedent: 'to anyone who knew …'. The repeated 'voor wien' structure is a stately period formula; modern Dutch would prefer 'voor wie'.
> Pluperfect modal: 'had kunnen blyken': A stacked verb cluster: pluperfect 'had' + modal infinitive 'kunnen' (could) + main infinitive 'blyken' (appear), = 'it could plainly have appeared'. After fronting, 'had' sits second and the infinitives pile up at the end.
> Perfect of 'worden' (had become): 'was geworden' is the perfect/pluperfect of 'worden' (to become): 'had become a contest'. 'worden' forms its perfect with 'zijn', giving 'was geworden'. This is distinct from the worden-passive.
> 'geen' negating a noun: 'geen geheim' = 'no secret': 'geen' is used because it negates an indefinite predicate noun. Contrast with 'niet', which would be wrong here.

Een toespeling namelyk op den beteren staat der wegen in een naburige afdeeling, scheen het vervolg te wezen op vergeefsche pogingen om ook in Lebak dusdanige betere wegen te doen aanleggen, of de bestaande beter te onderhouden.  
An allusion, namely, to the better condition of the roads in a neighboring division seemed to be the sequel to fruitless efforts to have such better roads laid out in Lebak too, or to have the existing ones better maintained.
> schijnen + te-infinitive: 'scheen … te wezen' = 'seemed to be': the verb 'schijnen' governs a te-infinitive ('te wezen', an archaic 'te zijn'). The te-infinitive closes the clause.
> om … te with causative 'doen': The purpose clause 'om … te doen aanleggen' = 'in order to have better roads laid out'. 'doen' + infinitive 'aanleggen' is the causative ('to have/cause something done'), parallel to causative 'laten'.
> Dative 'den' + genitive 'der': 'op den beteren staat der wegen' packs two case-remnants: 'den' is the old dative/accusative masculine article (after the preposition 'op'), and 'der' is the genitive plural ('of the roads'). 'beteren' carries the matching -en adjective ending.

Doch hierin had de Regent gelyk, dat Pandeglang dichter bevolkt was, vooral in verhouding tot de veel kleinere oppervlakte, en dat dus dáár de arbeid aan de groote wegen, door vereende krachten ligter viel dan in 't Lebaksche, een afdeeling die op honderde palen oppervlakte, slechts zeventigduizend inwoners telde.  
Yet in this the Regent was right: that Pandeglang was more densely populated, especially in proportion to its far smaller area, and that there, accordingly, the labor on the high roads, done by combined forces, came easier than in the Lebak district — a division that, over hundreds of square miles of territory, counted only seventy thousand inhabitants.
> Archaic 'doch' + fronted 'hierin': 'doch' is a literary 'but/yet' (register-marked, like English 'yet'). The fronted pronominal adverb 'hierin' (in this) forces V2 inversion: verb 'had' before subject 'de Regent'.
> 'dat'-clauses run verb-final: Both noun clauses opened by 'dat' (that) are subordinate and verb-final: 'bevolkt was' and 'ligter viel' close their clauses. 'dichter' and 'ligter' are comparatives ('more densely', 'easier').
> Relative 'die' for a de-word: 'afdeeling' is a de-word, so the relative pronoun is 'die', opening a verb-final clause ('… telde', counted). 'zeventigduizend' shows Dutch numbers written as one closed compound word.

--Dat is waar, zei Verbrugge, we hebben weinig volk hier, maar ...  
"That is true," said Verbrugge, "we have few people here, but ..."

De Adhipatti zag hem aan, als wachtte hy een aanval af.  
The Adhipatti looked at him, as though awaiting an attack.
> Separable 'aanzien': 'aanzien' (to look at) is separable: the stem 'zag' (strong past of 'zien') stands in second position and the prefix 'aan' lands at the clause-end, with the object 'hem' in between.
> Inverted 'als' = 'as if': 'als wachtte hy …' is an elliptical conditional/comparative ('as though he were awaiting …') marked by inversion: verb 'wachtte' before subject 'hy', with the separable prefix 'af' (from 'afwachten') dropping to the end.

Hy wist dat er na dat "maar" iets volgen kon, dat onaangenaam zou te hooren zyn voor hem, die sedert dertig jaren Regent van Lebak geweest was.  
He knew that after that "but" something might follow that would be unpleasant to hear for him, who had been Regent of Lebak for thirty years.
> Existential 'er' + modal at end: 'er … iets volgen kon' uses the dummy particle 'er' to introduce an indefinite subject ('iets', something), with the modal 'kon' (could) sending 'volgen' to the end of the verb-final 'dat'-clause.
> Conditional 'zou': 'zou … zyn' is the conditional ('would be'): 'zou' + infinitive expresses what would happen. Here it nests a te-infinitive 'te hooren' ('unpleasant to hear').
> Pluperfect of 'zijn': 'geweest was' is the pluperfect of 'zijn' (to be): 'had been'. The relative clause introduced by 'die' is verb-final, ending in the participle-plus-auxiliary cluster.

Het scheen dat Verbrugge op dit oogenblik geen lust had den stryd voorttezetten.  
It seemed that at this moment Verbrugge had no wish to carry on the contest.
> Impersonal 'het scheen': 'Het scheen dat …' = 'It seemed that …', with dummy 'het' as a placeholder subject pointing at nobody, a classic impersonal construction.
> 'geen' + te-infinitive: 'geen lust had … voorttezetten' = 'had no wish to carry on'. 'geen' negates the indefinite noun 'lust' (desire), and 'voorttezetten' (= voort te zetten) is the te-infinitive of separable 'voortzetten', written joined in period style.

Althans hy brak 't gesprek af, en vroeg weder aan den mandoor-oppasser of hy niets komen zag?  
At any rate he broke off the conversation, and asked the mandoor-oppasser again whether he saw nothing coming.
> Separable 'afbreken': 'afbreken' (to break off) splits: strong past 'brak' second, prefix 'af' at the clause-end, object ''t gesprek' between them.
> Indirect question with 'of': 'of' (whether) opens an embedded yes/no question, which is verb-final: 'komen zag' ('saw coming') closes it. 'niets' is the negative pronoun 'nothing'.

--Ik zie nog niets van den kant van Pandeglang, mynheer de kontroleur, maar daar-ginds aan de andere zyde rydt iemand te-paard ... het is de toewan kommendaan.  
"I still see nothing from the direction of Pandeglang, mijnheer the controller, but over yonder, on the other side, someone is riding on horseback ... it is the toewan commandant."
> Negative pronoun 'niets': 'niets' = 'nothing'; with the adverb 'nog' ('still'), 'nog niets' = 'nothing yet'. Dutch allows only one negative per clause, so 'niets' alone carries the negation.
> Fronted adverb forces inversion: The fronted place adverb 'daar-ginds aan de andere zyde' (over yonder) takes the first slot, so the verb 'rydt' precedes the subject 'iemand'. V2 again, here with a long adverbial in front.

--Welzeker, Dongso, zei Verbrugge naar buiten starende, dat is de kommandant! Hy jaagt in deze buurt, en is vanmorgen vroeg reeds uitgegaan.  
"Why, of course, Dongso," said Verbrugge, staring outside, "that is the commandant! He is hunting in these parts, and went out early this morning."
> Perfect of motion verb 'uitgaan': 'is … uitgegaan' is the present perfect of the separable motion verb 'uitgaan' (to go out), formed with 'zijn'. The participle 'uitgegaan' closes the clause; the time adverbials 'vanmorgen vroeg reeds' sit in the middle field.

Hé, Duclari ... Duclari!  
Hey, Duclari ... Duclari!

--Hy hoort u al, mynheer, hy komt hierheen.  
"He hears you already, mijnheer, he is coming this way."
> Polite pronoun 'u': 'u' is the polite/formal 'you' (object here), as the servant addresses the officer respectfully. It contrasts with the familiar 'je/jy' the officers use among themselves elsewhere in the scene.
> Directional adverb 'hierheen': 'hierheen' = 'this way / hither', a directional adverb that closes the clause after the verb 'komt'. Dutch distinguishes 'hier' (here, location) from 'hierheen' (motion towards here).

Zyn jongen rydt achter hem, met een kidang achter zich over 't paard.  
His boy is riding behind him, with a kidang slung behind him across the horse.
> Present tense, V2: A plain present-tense main clause: subject 'Zyn jongen' first, finite verb 'rydt' second. 'rydt' = modern 'rijdt' (rides), with period y-spelling.

--Pegang koedahnja toewan kommendaan gebood Verbrugge aan een der bedienden die buiten zaten. Bonjour, Duclari!  
"Pegang koedahnja toewan kommendaan," Verbrugge ordered one of the servants sitting outside. "Bonjour, Duclari!

Ben je nat? Wat heb je geschoten?  
Are you wet? What did you shoot?
> Familiar 'je' and a perfect question: Among equals the officers use familiar 'je' (you). 'Wat heb je geschoten?' is a present-perfect question: auxiliary 'heb' inverts to the front, participle 'geschoten' (strong, from 'schieten') ends the clause.

Kom binnen!  
Come in!"
> Imperative + separable verb: 'Kom binnen!' = 'Come in!': the bare stem 'kom' is the imperative, and 'binnenkomen' is separable, so the prefix 'binnen' follows as a command. The bare-stem imperative is the standard Dutch command form.

Een krachtig man van dertigjarigen leeftyd en flinke militaire houding, hoewel van uniform geen spoor was, trad de pendoppo in. Het was de eerste-luitenant Duclari, kommandant van 't kleine garnizoen te Rangkas-Betoeng.  
A vigorous man of some thirty years, of soldierly bearing, though there was not a trace of uniform about him, stepped into the pendoppo. It was First Lieutenant Duclari, commandant of the small garrison at Rangkas-Betoeng.
> Concessive 'hoewel' + 'geen': 'hoewel' (although) is subordinating, so its clause is verb-final ('… was'). 'geen spoor' ('no trace') uses 'geen' to negate the indefinite noun. The fronted 'van uniform' inverts within the clause.
> Separable 'intreden': 'intreden / de pendoppo intreden' (to step in/into): strong past 'trad' second, object 'de pendoppo', and the prefix 'in' at the very end.
> Adjective -en after old dative: 'van dertigjarigen leeftyd' = 'of thirty years of age'. The compound adjective 'dertigjarig' takes the old masculine -en ending after preposition 'van', a case-driven adjective form normal in 1860.

Verbrugge en hy waren bevriend, en hun gemeenzaamheid was te grooter, daar Duclari sedert eenigen tyd de woning van Verbrugge betrokken had in afwachting der voltooiing van een nieuw fort.  
He and Verbrugge were friends, and their intimacy was the greater since Duclari had for some time been living in Verbrugge's house while awaiting the completion of a new fort.
> Causal 'daar' + pluperfect: 'daar' here is the literary subordinator 'since/because', sending its clause verb-final to the cluster 'betrokken had' (had moved into), a pluperfect. 'te grooter' = 'the greater'.
> Genitive 'der': 'in afwachting der voltooiing van een nieuw fort' = 'awaiting the completion of a new fort': the genitive article 'der' marks 'voltooiing' (completion) as the thing awaited.

Hy drukte dezen de hand, groette den Regent beleefd, en ging zitten onder de vraag: "wel, wat heb je al zoo hier?"  
He shook the latter's hand, greeted the Regent politely, and sat down with the question: "Well, what have you got here, then?"
> Demonstrative 'dezen' as dative: 'dezen' is the demonstrative 'deze' (this one / the latter) carrying an old dative -n: 'shook the latter's hand' (literally 'pressed to this one the hand'). The bare dative object without a preposition is an archaic touch.
> Imperfect chain + bare infinitive: Three simple-past main verbs in a row ('drukte', 'groette', 'ging'). 'ging zitten' ('sat down') pairs the motion verb 'gaan' with the bare infinitive 'zitten', no 'te' required.

--Wil je thee, Duclari?  
"Will you have tea, Duclari?"
> Modal 'willen' in a question: 'Wil je thee?' = 'Will you (have) tea?': the modal 'willen' (to want) inverts to the front in a yes/no question, with familiar 'je'.

--Wel neen, ik ben warm genoeg!  
"No indeed, I'm warm enough as it is!

Heb je geen klapperwater? Dat is frisscher.  
Have you any coconut water? That's more refreshing."

--Dat laat ik je niet geven.  
"I won't have any given to you.
> Causative 'laten' + fronted object: 'laten' + infinitive ('laat … geven', 'have given') is the causative: 'I won't have any given to you'. The object 'Dat' is fronted for emphasis, forcing inversion 'laat ik', and 'niet' negates the verb.

Als men warm is, houd ik klapperwater voor heel nadeelig. Je wordt er styf en jichtig van.  
When one is warm, I hold coconut water to be very harmful. It makes you stiff and gouty.
> Conditional 'als' + main-clause inversion: The fronted subordinate clause 'Als men warm is' (when one is warm) is verb-final ('… is'); because it fills the first slot of the whole sentence, the main clause must invert: 'houd ik' (verb before subject).
> Split pronominal adverb 'er … van': 'er … van' is a split pronominal adverb meaning 'from it / of it': 'You get stiff and gouty from it (the coconut water)'. The 'er' sits early and the preposition 'van' lands at the clause-end.
> iets ergens voor houden: 'iets voor … houden' = 'to hold/consider something to be …': 'I consider coconut water very harmful'. The fixed preposition 'voor' is governed by the verb 'houden', not by English logic.

Zie eens de koelies die zware vrachten over de bergen dragen: zy houden zich vlug en lenig door heet water te drinken, of koppi dahoen. Maar gemberthee is nog beter ...  
Just look at the coolies who carry heavy loads over the mountains: they keep themselves nimble and supple by drinking hot water, or koppi dahoen. But ginger tea is better still ..."
> Imperative softened by 'eens': 'Zie eens' = 'Just look': the bare-stem imperative 'zie' softened by the particle 'eens'. The relative 'die' (for the de-word plural 'koelies') opens a verb-final clause ('… dragen').
> Reflexive 'zich' + 'door … te': 'houden zich' is reflexive (zich = 3rd-person reflexive, 'keep themselves'). The means is given by 'door … te drinken' ('by drinking …'), where 'door' + te-infinitive expresses 'by means of'.

--Wat? Koppi dahoen, thee van koffibladen?  
"What? Koppi dahoen, tea made from coffee leaves?
> Compound 'koffibladen': 'koffibladen' = 'koffi' (period spelling of coffee) + 'bladen' (leaves), a single closed compound noun, 'coffee-leaves'. Dutch glues nouns together right-headed: the last element ('bladen') gives the gender and number.
> Perfect + negative 'nooit': Fronted object 'Dat' forces inversion 'heb ik'; the negative adverb 'nog nooit' ('never yet') carries the clause's single negation, and the participle 'gezien' closes the present perfect.

Dat heb ik nog nooit gezien.  
I've never seen that before."

--Omdat je niet op Sumatra gediend hebt. Daar is 't de gewoonte.  
"That's because you haven't served in Sumatra. There it's the custom."
> 'omdat' verb-final perfect: 'omdat' (because) is subordinating, so the clause is verb-final and the perfect cluster 'gediend hebt' lands at the end. 'niet' negates the verb. Modern Dutch would write 'hebt gediend'; the period order can swap them.

--Laat me dan maar thee geven ... maar niet van koffibladen, en ook niet van gember. Ja, je bent op Sumatra geweest ... en de nieuwe adsistent-resident ook, niet waar?  
"Then just let me have tea ... but not made of coffee leaves, and not of ginger either. Yes, you've been to Sumatra ... and the new assistant-resident too, haven't you?"
> Causative imperative 'Laat … geven': 'Laat me … geven' = 'Let me be given / let them give me': imperative 'laat' (from 'laten') + bare infinitive 'geven' is causative. The particles 'dan maar' soften it to 'then just'.
> Perfect of 'zijn' with 'zijn': 'bent … geweest' is the present perfect of 'zijn' (to be / to have been somewhere). 'zijn' takes itself ('zijn') as its perfect auxiliary, giving 'is/bent geweest'.

Dit gesprek werd in 't hollandsch gevoerd, een taal die de Regent niet verstond.  
This conversation was carried on in Dutch, a language the Regent did not understand.
> Process passive with 'worden': 'werd … gevoerd' is the worden-passive in the past: 'worden' (here past 'werd') + past participle 'gevoerd' (conducted). The subject 'Dit gesprek' undergoes the action: 'was carried on'.
> Relative 'die' for de-word: 'taal' is a de-word, so the relative is 'die', opening a verb-final clause that ends in 'verstond' (understood), the strong past of 'verstaan'.

Hetzy Duclari gevoelde dat er iets onbeleefds in lag, hem hierdoor van 't onderhoud uittesluiten, hetzyd-i hiermee een andere bedoeling had, op-eenmaal ging hy, zich tot den Regent wendende, in 't maleisch voort:  
Whether Duclari felt that there was something impolite in thereby shutting the Regent out of the talk, or whether he had some other purpose by it, all at once he turned to the Regent and went on in Malay:
> Correlative 'hetzy … hetzy' (whether … or): 'Hetzy … hetzy …' is the literary correlative 'whether … or'. 'hetzyd-i' is a contraction of 'hetzy hy' (whether he), with an inserted -d- for euphony, an archaic written form.
> 'er' + partitive genitive '-s': 'iets onbeleefds' = 'something impolite': after 'iets', the adjective takes a partitive -s ('onbeleefd-s'). The dummy 'er' provides the existential subject ('there lay something impolite in it').
> Present participle '-ende' + reflexive: 'wendende' is the present participle ('-end(e)', turning), used adverbially. The verb is reflexive ('zich … wendende', turning himself), and the main clause uses separable 'voortgaan' ('ging … voort').
> Malay as the lingua franca: 'maleisch' = Malay, the trade language by which Dutch officials and Javanese chiefs communicated. The text foregrounds language choice as a social act: switching to Malay re-includes the Regent in the conversation.

--Weet mynheer de Adhipatti, dat m'nheer de kontroleur den nieuwen adsistent-resident kent?  
"Does mijnheer the Adhipatti know that mijnheer the controller is acquainted with the new assistant-resident?"
> Yes/no question by inversion: 'Weet mynheer …?' inverts the verb to the front for a yes/no question. The embedded 'dat'-clause is verb-final, ending in 'kent' (knows).
> Old accusative 'den' + adjective -en: 'den nieuwen adsistent-resident' shows the masculine accusative article 'den' with the matching -en adjective ending on 'nieuw'. By 1860 this -n is a written convention more than a spoken case.

--Wel neen, dát heb niet gezegd, ik heb hem nooit gezien. Hy diende eenige jaren vóór my op Sumatra.  
"Why, no, I didn't say that, I've never seen him. He served some years before me in Sumatra.
> Fronted 'dat' + perfect: Emphatic fronted 'dát' ('that') fills the first slot; the perfect auxiliary 'heb' follows (subject 'ik' elided in speech), with participle 'gezegd' at the end. 'niet' negates the verb.
> Imperfect 'diende': 'diende' is the weak simple past of 'dienen' (to serve), formed by adding -de to the stem. The preposition 'vóór' (before) here is temporal: 'some years before me'.

Ik heb je maar gezegd dat ik daar veel over hem heb hooren spreken, anders niet! --Nu, dit komt op 'tzelfde neer.  
I only told you that I'd heard a great deal said about him there, nothing more!" — "Well, that comes to the same thing.
> Perception verb + double infinitive: 'heb hooren spreken' = 'have heard speak': the perception verb 'hooren' takes a bare infinitive 'spreken', and in the perfect it appears as an infinitive itself (the 'infinitivus-pro-participio'), not a participle. The whole cluster ends a verb-final 'dat'-clause.
> Separable 'neerkomen op': 'neerkomen op' = 'to come down to / amount to': the separable verb splits as 'komt … neer', and 'op ''tzelfde' = 'to the same (thing)'.

Men behoeft iemand juist niet te zien om hem te kennen. Hoe denkt m'nheer de Adhipatti hierover?  
One needn't see a person in order to know him. What does mijnheer the Adhipatti think of this?"
> behoeven + te / om … te: 'behoeven … te zien' = 'need to see', with 'behoeven' governing a te-infinitive. The purpose tail 'om hem te kennen' ('in order to know him') uses 'om … te'. 'Men' is the impersonal 'one'.

De Adhipatti had juist noodig een bediende te roepen.  
The Adhipatti happened just then to need to call a servant.
> nodig hebben + te-infinitive: 'noodig hebben … te roepen' = 'to need to call': the predicate 'noodig hebben' (to have need of) governs a te-infinitive 'te roepen'. 'juist' here means 'just then / precisely'.

Er verliep dus wat tyd voor hy zeggen kon: "dat hy met den heer kommandant instemde, maar dat het toch dikwyls noodig was iemand te zien voor men hem beoordeelen kon."  
Some time therefore went by before he could say: "that he agreed with the commandant, but that it was nevertheless often necessary to see a person before one could judge him."
> 'Er' + impersonal time-passing: 'Er verliep … wat tyd' = 'some time passed': dummy 'er' opens the clause with an indefinite subject 'wat tyd'. 'voor hy zeggen kon' is a verb-final 'voor' (before)-clause with the modal at the end.
> Reported speech, verb-final + 'den': The reported clause is verb-final: separable 'instemmen' (to agree) ends as '… instemde'. 'den heer kommandant' carries the old accusative/dative 'den'.

--Over 't geheel genomen is dit misschien waar, ging nu Duclari in 't hollandsch voort--hetzy omdat deze taal hem gemeenzamer was en hy meende genoeg gedaan te hebben voor de beleefdheid, hetzy omdat hy alleen door Verbrugge verstaan wilde worden--dit moge in 't algemeen waar zyn, maar omtrent Havelaar heeft men waarachtig geen persoonlyke kennismaking noodig ... hy is een gek!  
"On the whole this is perhaps true," Duclari now went on in Dutch — whether because this language was more familiar to him and he thought he had done enough for courtesy's sake, or because he wished to be understood by Verbrugge alone — "this may be true in general, but as for Havelaar, one truly needs no personal acquaintance ... he is a madman!"
> Separable 'voortgaan' + V2: Fronted 'Over 't geheel genomen' pushes the verb 'ging' into second place before the subject 'Duclari'; the separable prefix 'voort' goes to the end ('ging … voort').
> Subjunctive 'moge': 'moge … zyn' = 'may be': 'moge' is the present subjunctive of 'mogen', a concessive, formal flourish ('this may be true in general, but …'). Such subjunctives survive only in archaic/literary register.
> Passive infinitive 'verstaan worden': 'verstaan worden' is a passive infinitive ('to be understood'): participle 'verstaan' + 'worden'. Governed by 'wilde' (wanted), the whole cluster closes the verb-final 'hetzy'-clause: 'wished to be understood by Verbrugge alone'.

--Dat heb ik niet gezegd, Duclari!  
"That I didn't say, Duclari!"

--Neen, jy hebt dat niet gezegd, maar ik zeg het na al wat je my van hem verteld hebt.  
"No, you didn't say it, but I say it after all you've told me about him.
> Emphatic 'jy': 'jy' (modern 'jij') is the stressed/emphatic form of familiar 'you', as opposed to the unstressed clitic 'je'. The contrast 'jy hebt … maar ik zeg' sets the two speakers against each other.
> Relative 'wat' without antecedent: 'al wat …' = 'all that …': 'wat' is the relative for an indefinite/neuter antecedent ('all'). The clause is verb-final, ending in the perfect cluster 'verteld hebt'.

Ik noem iemand die in 't water springt om een hond te redden van de haaien, een gek.  
I call a man who jumps into the water to save a dog from the sharks a madman."
> Embedded relative + om … te: The relative clause 'die in 't water springt' (who jumps into the water) is verb-final, and within it sits the purpose tail 'om een hond te redden' ('to save a dog'). The frame 'Ik noem … een gek' = 'I call … a madman'.

--Nu ja, verstandig is 't zeker niet.  
"Well, yes, it's certainly not sensible.
> Fronted predicate adjective: The predicate adjective 'verstandig' (sensible) is fronted for emphasis, forcing inversion ('is 't' = is het). 'niet' negates: 'it is certainly not sensible'.

Maar ... --En, hoor eens, dat versje tegen den generaal Vandamme ... 't kwam niet te-pas!  
But ..." — "And, look here, that little verse against General Vandamme ... it was out of place!"

--'t Was geestig ...  
"It was witty ..."

--Tot je dienst! Maar een jong mensch mag niet geestig zyn tegen een generaal.  
"Granted, for all I care! But a young man oughtn't to be witty at a general's expense."
> Modal 'mogen' (permission): 'mag … zyn' = 'may/ought to be': the modal 'mogen' (here permission/propriety) sends 'zyn' to the end. With 'niet', 'mag niet' = 'may not / oughtn't'.

--Je moet in 't oog houden dat hy nog zeer jong was ... het is veertien jaar geleden. Hy was toen maar twee-en-twintig jaar oud.  
"You must bear in mind that he was still very young ... it's fourteen years ago. He was then only twenty-two years old."
> Modal 'moeten' + idiom: 'moet … houden' = 'must keep/bear': the modal 'moeten' (must) sends 'houden' to the end. 'in 't oog houden' is the idiom 'to bear in mind'.
> Impersonal 'het' for time: 'het is veertien jaar geleden' = 'it is fourteen years ago': dummy 'het' as the subject for a time expression, pointing at nobody, the impersonal-het construction.

--En dan de kalkoen dien hy stal!  
"And then the turkey he stole!"
> Old accusative relative 'dien': 'dien' is the masculine accusative form of the relative 'die' ('which/that he stole'), an inflected relative now lost in modern Dutch. The verb-final clause ends in 'stal', the strong past of 'stelen'.

--Dat deed hy om den generaal te plagen.  
"He did that to vex the general."
> Fronted 'Dat' + om … te: Fronted object 'Dat' inverts the verb ('deed hy'). The purpose clause 'om den generaal te plagen' ('to vex the general') uses 'om … te', with old accusative 'den generaal'.

--Juist!  
"Exactly!

Een jong mensch mag geen generaal plagen, die bovendien, als civiel gouverneur, zyn chef was. Dat andere versje vind ik aardig, maar ... dat eeuwige duelleeren!  
A young man oughtn't to vex a general who, on top of that, as civil governor, was his superior. That other verse I find rather good, but ... that everlasting dueling!"
> Modal + 'geen' + relative: 'mag … plagen' is the modal 'mogen' sending 'plagen' to the end; 'geen generaal' uses 'geen' to negate the indefinite object. The relative 'die … zyn chef was' is verb-final.

--Hy deed het gewoonlyk voor een ander. Hy trok altyd party voor den zwakste.  
"He usually did it on another's behalf. He always took the part of the weaker."
> Middle field: manner adverb placement: The frequency adverb 'gewoonlyk' (usually) sits in the middle field between the verb 'deed' and the rest, before the place/benefactive phrase 'voor een ander'. This ordering follows the Time–Manner–Place tendency.
> Superlative 'de zwakste': 'den zwakste' is the superlative of 'zwak' (weak) with the -ste ending: 'the weakest one'. 'party trekken voor' is the idiom 'to take the part of'.

--Wel laat ieder voor zichzelf duelleeren, als men het dan volstrekt doen wil!  
"Well, let everyone duel for himself, if duel he absolutely must!"
> Causative/jussive 'laten' + reflexive: 'laat ieder … duelleeren' = 'let everyone duel': 'laten' + bare infinitive as a hortative/causative ('let'). 'voor zichzelf' uses the reflexive 'zich(zelf)' ('for himself').
> 'als'-clause, modal at end: 'als' (if) opens a verb-final conditional clause; the modal 'wil' (wants) closes it after the main infinitive 'doen' ('if one absolutely wants to do it'). 'men' = impersonal 'one'.

Ik voor my geloof dat een duel zelden noodig is. Waar 't onvermydelyk was, zou ook ik een uitdaging aannemen, en in zekere gevallen zelf uitdagen, maar om daarvan dagelyksch werk te maken ... dank je!  
"For my own part, I believe a duel is seldom necessary. Where it was unavoidable, I too would accept a challenge, and in certain cases issue one myself, but to make a daily business of it ... no thank you!
> Conditional 'zou' + fronted clause: The fronted 'Waar 't onvermydelyk was' ('where it was unavoidable') makes the main clause invert: 'zou ook ik … aannemen'. 'zou … aannemen' is the conditional, with separable 'aannemen' (accept) closing it.
> om … te + 'daarvan': Purpose tail 'om … te maken' ('to make … of it'), with the pronominal adverb 'daarvan' = 'of that / of it' standing in for 'van dat (duelleeren)'.

Het is te hopen dat hy veranderd is op dit punt.  
It's to be hoped that he has changed on this point."
> Impersonal 'het is te + inf.': 'Het is te hopen' = 'it is to be hoped': dummy 'het' + 'te' + infinitive expresses a passive-like necessity/possibility. The 'dat'-clause is verb-final ('veranderd is').

--Wel zeker, daar is geen twyfel aan!  
"Why, surely, there's no doubt of it!

Hy is nu zooveel ouder, daarby sedert langen tyd getrouwd, en adsistent-resident.  
He is so much older now, married besides for a long while, and an assistant-resident.
> Comparative 'ouder' + dative 'langen tyd': 'ouder' is the comparative of 'oud' (old): 'so much older'. 'sedert langen tyd' ('for a long while') carries the old dative -n on the adjective after the preposition 'sedert'.

Bovendien, ik heb altyd gehoord dat zyn hart goed was, en dat hy een warm gevoel had voor recht.  
Moreover, I've always heard that his heart was good, and that he had a warm feeling for justice."
> Perfect + verb-final 'dat'-clause: 'heb … gehoord' is the present perfect (auxiliary 'heb', participle 'gehoord' at the end). The reported 'dat'-clause is verb-final ('… goed was').

--Nu, dat zal hem te-pas komen in Lebak! Daar is me juist iets voorgekomen, dat ... zou de Regent ons verstaan?  
"Well, that will stand him in good stead in Lebak! Something has just come to my notice here that ... would the Regent understand us?"
> 'Daar' + dative 'me' + 'voorkomen': 'Daar … iets voorgekomen' = 'something has come up': the separable 'voorkomen' here means 'to occur/come to notice', in the perfect 'is voorgekomen'. The ethical dative 'me' ('to me') adds a colloquial flavour.
> Conditional question 'zou': 'zou … verstaan?' = 'would (the Regent) understand?': the conditional 'zou' inverted for a question, softening it into speculation ('would the Regent understand us?').

--Ik geloof 't niet. Maar toon my iets uit je weitasch, dan denkt hy dat we dáárover spreken.  
"I don't think so. But show me something out of your game-bag, then he'll think we're talking about that."
> Imperative 'toon' + dative: 'toon my iets' = 'show me something': bare-stem imperative 'toon' with the dative object 'my'. 'dan denkt hy …' then inverts after the fronted 'dan'.
> Pronominal adverb 'dáárover': 'dáárover' = 'about that': the pronominal adverb 'daar' + 'over' fused into one word, standing for 'over dat'. The 'dat'-clause is verb-final ('… spreken').

Duclari nam zyn weitasch, haalde daaruit een paar boschduiven, en die vogels betastende als sprak hy over de jacht, deelde hy Verbrugge mede dat hy zoo-even in 't veld was nageloopen door een Javaan, die hem gevraagd had of hy niet iets doen kon tot verligting van den druk waaronder de bevolking zuchtte? --En, ging hy voort, dit is zeer sterk, Verbrugge!  
Duclari took up his game-bag, drew out a couple of wood pigeons, and, fingering the birds as though he were speaking of the hunt, told Verbrugge that he had just now been chased across the field by a Javanese who had asked him whether he could not do something to relieve the oppression under which the population groaned. — "And," he went on, "this is very telling, Verbrugge!
> Present participle '-ende' + 'als' inversion: 'betastende' is a present participle ('fingering', used adverbially). 'als sprak hy' is an inverted comparative clause ('as if he spoke'), with the verb 'sprak' before the subject.
> Separable 'mededelen' + passive 'nalopen': Main verb separable 'mededelen' ('deelde … mede', told). The reported clause holds a worden/zijn-style passive 'was nageloopen door' ('had been chased by'), with agent marked by 'door'.
> Indirect question 'of' + modal: 'of hy … doen kon' = 'whether he could do …': 'of' opens a verb-final indirect question with the modal 'kon' (could) at the end. 'tot verligting van den druk' = 'to relieve the oppression'.

Niet dat ik me verwonder over de zaak zelf. Ik ben lang genoeg in 't Bantamsche om te weten wat hier voorvalt, maar dat de geringe Javaan, gewoonlyk zoo omzichtig en terughoudend waar 't zyn hoofden geldt, zoo-iets vraagt aan iemand die er niets mee te maken heeft, dit bevreemdt my!  
Not that I wonder at the matter itself. I've been long enough in the Bantam district to know what goes on here, but that the lowly Javanese, usually so wary and reticent where his chiefs are concerned, should ask such a thing of someone who has nothing to do with it — that puzzles me!"
> Reflexive 'zich verwonderen': 'me verwonder over' = 'wonder/be surprised at': 'zich verwonderen over' is an obligatorily reflexive verb taking the fixed preposition 'over'. Here the 1st-person reflexive is 'me'.
> Heavy subject clause resumed by 'dit': The long verb-final 'dat'-clause is the logical subject, then resumed by 'dit' ('this puzzles me'). Within it, 'waar 't zyn hoofden geldt' is a verb-final 'waar'-clause ('where it concerns his chiefs').

--En wat heb je geantwoord, Duclari?  
"And what did you answer, Duclari?"

--Wèl, dat het me niet aanging! Dat hy tot u moest gaan, of tot den nieuwen adsistent-resident, als die zou aangekomen zyn te Rangkas-Betoeng, en dáár zyn klachten uiten.  
"Why, that it was no business of mine! That he should go to you, or to the new assistant-resident, once he had arrived at Rangkas-Betoeng, and air his complaints there."
> Separable 'aangaan' (concern): 'aangaan' = 'to concern': here impersonal 'het … me niet aanging' = 'it was no business of mine'. Verb-final clause; the prefix-bearing 'aanging' closes it.
> Modal 'moeten' over two infinitives: 'moest gaan … (en) uiten' = 'should go … and air': one modal 'moest' (had to) governs two coordinated bare infinitives, 'gaan' and 'uiten'. 'als die zou aangekomen zyn' is a future-perfect conditional ('once he had arrived').

--Ienie apa toewan-toewan datang! riep op-eenmaal de oppasser Dongso. Ik zie een mantrie die met zyn toedoeng wuift.  
"Ienie apa toewan-toewan datang!" the oppasser Dongso suddenly cried. "I see a mantrie waving with his toedoeng."
> Relative 'die' + present tense: 'die … wuift' is a verb-final relative clause in the present tense ('who waves with his toedoeng'). 'zyn' is the possessive 'his' in period y-spelling.

Allen stonden op.  
They all stood up.
> Separable 'opstaan': 'opstaan' (to stand up) splits: strong past 'stonden' second, prefix 'op' at the end. 'Allen' = 'all of them', the substantivised plural with -en.

Duclari, die niet door zyn tegenwoordigheid in de pendoppo den schyn wilde aannemen als ware ook hy aan de grenzen ter verwelkoming van den adsistent-resident, die wel zyn meerdere doch niet zyn chef, en bovendien een gek was, steeg te-paard, en reed door zyn bediende gevolgd, heen.  
Duclari, who did not wish, by his presence in the pendoppo, to give the appearance that he too had come to the frontier to welcome the assistant-resident — who was indeed his superior, but not his chief, and was a madman besides — mounted his horse and rode off, followed by his servant.
> Subjunctive 'ware' after 'als': 'als ware ook hy' = 'as though he too were': 'ware' is the past subjunctive of 'zijn', an archaic counterfactual, with inversion ('ware … hy'). The frame uses modal 'wilde aannemen' (wished to assume).
> Imperfect chain + separable 'heenrijden': 'steeg' (mounted, strong past of 'stijgen') and 'reed … heen' (rode off): the separable 'heen' lands at the end. The participial phrase 'door zyn bediende gevolgd' = 'followed by his servant' (passive, agent with 'door').
> Archaic 'doch' contrast: 'wel … doch niet …' = 'indeed … but not …': the literary 'doch' (yet/but) sets superior rank ('meerdere') against direct authority ('chef'). The distinction matters: a superior in grade need not be one's commanding chief.

De Adhipatti en Verbrugge stelden zich aan den ingang van de pendoppo, en zagen een door vier paarden getrokken reiswagen naderen, die weldra vry bemodderd by 't bamboezen gebouwtje stilhield.  
The Adhipatti and Verbrugge stationed themselves at the entrance of the pendoppo, and saw a traveling carriage drawn by four horses approach, which presently, fairly bemired, came to a halt by the little bamboo building.
> Reflexive 'zich stellen': 'stelden zich' = 'stationed themselves': reflexive 'zich' for the 3rd-person plural subject. 'aan den ingang' carries the old dative 'den'.
> Past participle as attributive adjective: 'een door vier paarden getrokken reiswagen' = 'a carriage drawn by four horses': the past participle 'getrokken' is used attributively (a reduced passive), with the agent phrase 'door vier paarden' embedded before it.

Het zou moeielyk geweest zyn te raden wat er zich al zoo in dien wagen bevond, voor Dongso, geholpen door de loopers en een tal van bedienden die tot het gevolg van den Regent behoorden, al de riemen en knoopsels hadden losgemaakt, die het voertuig hielden ingesloten met een zwart lederen foedraal dat aan de diskretie herinnerde, waarmee in vroeger jaren leeuwen en tygers de stad inkwamen, toen de zoölogische tuinen nog reizende dierenspellen waren.  
It would have been hard to guess what all might be inside that carriage, before Dongso, helped by the runners and a number of servants belonging to the Regent's suite, had loosened all the straps and fastenings that held the vehicle shut in with a black leather casing — a thing recalling the discretion with which, in earlier years, lions and tigers came into the town, back when zoological gardens were still traveling menageries.
> Conditional perfect 'zou … geweest zyn': 'zou … geweest zyn' = 'would have been': the conditional perfect (zou + past participle + zyn). It governs the te-infinitive 'te raden' ('to guess'). Dummy 'Het' is the impersonal subject.
> 'voor' (before) + pluperfect, verb-final: 'voor … hadden losgemaakt' = 'before … had loosened': 'voor' as a temporal subordinator sends the verb to the end. 'losmaken' (to undo) is separable; in the perfect cluster the participle 'losgemaakt' precedes 'hadden' here in period order.
> Relative 'die' + 'behoren tot': 'die … behoorden' is a verb-final relative clause ('who belonged to'); 'behoren tot' takes the fixed preposition 'tot'. 'het gevolg' = the (Regent's) retinue.

Leeuwen of tygers nu waren er in den wagen niet. Men had alles maar zoo zorgvuldig gesloten omdat het westmoesson was, en men dus op regen moest bedacht zyn.  
Now, lions or tigers there were none in the carriage. Everything had merely been so carefully closed up because it was the west monsoon, and one had therefore to reckon on rain.
> Fronted object + 'er' + 'niet': Marked word order: the fronted 'Leeuwen of tygers' tops the clause, with existential 'er' and clause-final 'niet' ('there were no lions or tigers in the carriage'). The negation falls on the whole existential.
> Modal 'moeten' + fixed 'op … bedacht zyn': 'moest … bedacht zyn' = 'had to be prepared': modal 'moeten' over the predicate 'bedacht zyn op' ('to be mindful of'), which governs the fixed preposition 'op'. Verb-final in the 'omdat … en'-clause.

Nu is 't uitstappen uit een reiswagen waarin men lang over den weg gehotst heeft, niet zoo gemakkelyk als iemand die nooit of weinig gereisd heeft, zich verbeelden zou.  
Now, getting out of a traveling carriage in which one has long been jolted along the road is not so easy as someone who has never, or seldom, traveled would imagine.
> Nominalised infinitive + comparison: ''t uitstappen' is the infinitive 'uitstappen' (to get out) used as a neuter noun ('the getting out'). The comparison 'niet zoo … als' = 'not as … as'.
> Reflexive 'zich verbeelden' + conditional: 'zich verbeelden' (to imagine) is reflexive; 'verbeelden zou' = 'would imagine' (conditional 'zou'). The relative 'die … gereisd heeft' is a verb-final perfect.

Nagenoeg als de arme Sauriers uit de voorwereld, die door lang wachten ten-laatste een integreerend deel uitmaken van de klei, waarin ze aanvankelyk niet gekomen waren met het plan om er te blyven, heeft er ook by reizigers die wat nauw op-één gedrukt en in gedwongen houding, te lang in een reiswagen gezeten hebben, iets plaats, wat ik u voorstel assimilatie te noemen.  
Much as with the poor Saurians of the primeval world, which by long waiting at last become an integral part of the clay into which they had not originally come with any plan of staying — so too, with travelers who have sat too long in a traveling carriage, somewhat tightly packed together and in a constrained posture, something takes place that I propose to you we call assimilation.
> 'plaats hebben' + relative 'wat': 'heeft … iets plaats' is the idiom 'plaats hebben' = 'to take place', split here with 'er' and the long adverbial in between. The relative 'wat' (referring to the whole 'iets') opens 'wat ik u voorstel … te noemen' ('which I propose we call').
> Relative + separable 'uitmaken': 'uitmaken' ('to constitute/form') is separable: 'uitmaken van' = 'to make up part of'. The relative clause is verb-final, and 'waarin ze … niet gekomen waren' is a further verb-final pluperfect ('into which they had not come').

Men weet eindelyk niet juist meer waar 't lederen kussen van den wagen ophoudt, en waar de ikheid aanvangt, ja, het denkbeeld is me niet vreemd dat men in zulk een wagen kiespyn of kramp hebben kan, die men voor mot in 't laken aanziet, of omgekeerd.  
In the end one no longer knows exactly where the carriage's leather cushion leaves off and where the I-ness begins; indeed, the notion is not strange to me that in such a carriage one might have a toothache or a cramp that one takes for a moth in the upholstery, or the other way round.
> Indirect 'waar'-clauses, verb-final: Two parallel indirect questions opened by 'waar' (where), both verb-final: separable 'ophouden' ('… ophoudt', leaves off) and 'aanvangen' ('… aanvangt', begins). 'de ikheid' = 'the I-ness', a coinage.
> Separable 'aanzien voor' (mistake for): 'aanzien voor' = 'to take/mistake for': separable, with the relative 'die' fronted as object and the prefix-bearing finite verb 'aanziet' closing the verb-final clause.

Er zyn weinig omstandigheden in de stoffelyke wereld, die den denkenden mensch geen aanleiding geven tot het maken van opmerkingen op verstandelyk gebied, en zoo heb ik myzelf dikwyls afgevraagd of niet veel dwalingen die onder ons kracht van wet hebben, veel "scheefheden" die wy voor "recht" houden, hieruit voortvloeien, dat men te lang met hetzelfde gezelschap in denzelfden reiswagen heeft gezeten?  
There are few circumstances in the material world that do not give the thinking man occasion to make observations in the realm of the intellect, and so I have often asked myself whether many of the errors that have, among us, the force of law, many of the "crookednesses" that we hold to be "straight," do not arise from this: that one has sat too long in the same traveling carriage with the same company.
> Present participle 'denkenden' as adjective: 'denkenden' is the present participle 'denkend' (thinking) used attributively, with the old accusative -en: 'the thinking man'. 'geen aanleiding geven' uses 'geen' to negate the indefinite object.
> Reflexive 'zich afvragen' + perfect: 'zich afvragen' (to ask oneself / wonder) is reflexive and separable; in the perfect 'heb ik myzelf … afgevraagd'. It governs an indirect 'of'-question that is verb-final ('… voortvloeien').
> Dative 'denzelfden': 'in denzelfden reiswagen' = 'in the same carriage': 'denzelfden' is the masculine dative of 'dezelfde' (the same), inflected after the preposition 'in', a heavy case-remnant typical of solemn period prose.

Het been dat ge daar links uitsteken moest, tusschen de hoededoos en 't mandje met kersen ... de knie die ge tegen 't portier gedrukt hield, om de dame tegenover u niet te doen denken dat ge een aanval in den zin hadt op krinoline of deugd ... de gelikdoornde voet die zoo bang was voor de hakken van den commis-voyageur naast u ... de hals dien ge zoo lang links moest wenden, omdat het drupt aan de rechterzyde.. zie, dat worden zoo alle ten-laatste halzen, en knieën, en voeten, die iets verdraaids bekomen.  
The leg you had to stick out there to the left, between the hatbox and the little basket of cherries ... the knee you held pressed against the door, so as not to make the lady opposite you think you had designs upon crinoline or virtue ... the corn-ridden foot that was so afraid of the heels of the commercial traveler beside you ... the neck you had to twist so long to the left, because it was dripping on the right ... look, all these in the end become necks, and knees, and feet that take on something twisted.
> Archaic 'ge' + relative 'dat': 'ge' is the literary/archaic 'you' of 1860 prose (with verb 'moest'). 'been' is a het-word, so the relative pronoun is 'dat'; the clause is verb-final, ending in 'uitsteken moest' ('you had to stick out').
> om … te + causative 'doen denken': Purpose clause 'om … niet te doen denken' = 'so as not to make … think'. 'doen denken' is causative ('doen' + infinitive). 'de knie die ge … gedrukt hield' is another verb-final relative.
> Accusative relative 'dien': 'dien' is again the masculine accusative relative ('which/that'), referring to 'de hals' (the neck). 'omdat het drupt aan de rechterzyde' is a verb-final causal clause with impersonal 'het' ('because it is dripping').

Ik houd het voor goed, van tyd tot-tyd eens te wisselen van wagens, zitplaats en medereizigers.  
I hold it good, from time to time, to change carriages, seat, and fellow-travelers.
> iets voor goed houden + te-infinitive: 'houd het voor goed … te wisselen' = 'hold it good to change': the idiom 'iets voor goed houden' (to think something good) with anticipatory 'het' resolved by the te-infinitive 'te wisselen'.

Men kan dan zyn hals eens anders wenden, men beweegt nu-en-dan zyn knie, en misschien zit er eens een juffrouw naast ons met dansschoenen, of een jongetje wiens beentjes den grond niet raken.  
Then one can turn one's neck a different way, one shifts one's knee now and then, and perhaps there sits beside one, for once, a young lady in dancing shoes, or a little boy whose legs don't reach the floor.
> Modal 'kunnen' + 'men': 'Men kan … wenden' = 'one can turn': modal 'kunnen' sends 'wenden' to the end. 'Men' is the impersonal 'one', and the fronted 'dan' inverts 'kan men'.
> Diminutives + genitive relative 'wiens': 'jongetje' and 'beentjes' are diminutives (-je / -tjes), making the boy and his legs small and dear; both are neuter. 'wiens' is the masculine genitive relative ('whose'). The clause is verb-final ('… raken').

Men heeft dan meer kans om recht te zien en recht te loopen, zoodra men weer vasten grond onder de voeten krygt.  
One then has a better chance of seeing straight and walking straight, as soon as one gets firm ground under one's feet again.
> 'zoodra' subordinator + 'vasten' dative: 'zoodra' (as soon as) is subordinating, sending its verb to the end ('… krygt'). 'vasten grond' carries the old accusative -en on the adjective. 'recht te zien en recht te loopen' pairs two te-infinitives.

Of er ook in den wagen, die nu voor de pendoppo stilhield, zich iets verzette tegen de "oplossing der continuiteit" weet ik niet, maar zeker is 't dat het lang duurde voor er iets te voorschyn kwam.  
Whether in the carriage that now halted before the pendoppo there was also something that resisted the "resolution of the continuity" I do not know, but certain it is that a long time passed before anything came into view.
> Indirect 'of' + reflexive 'zich verzetten': 'Of … iets verzette' is a fronted indirect question ('whether something resisted'), verb-final. 'zich verzetten tegen' (to resist) is reflexive and governs 'tegen'. Dummy 'er' supports the indefinite subject 'iets'.
> 'voor' (before) + separable 'te voorschyn komen': 'voor er iets te voorschyn kwam' = 'before anything came into view': temporal 'voor' sends the verb to the end; 'te voorschyn komen' is the fixed expression 'to appear', with 'er' as the existential particle.

Er scheen een stryd van hoffelykheid gevoerd te worden. Men vernam de woorden: "als 't u belieft, mevrouw!" en "resident!" Hoe dit zy, eindelyk stapte er een heer uit, die in houding en voorkomen wel iets vertoonde dat denken deed aan de Sauriers waarvan ik zoo-even gesproken heb.  
There seemed to be a contest of courtesy going on. One caught the words: "if you please, mevrouw!" and "resident!" However that may be, at last a gentleman stepped out who, in bearing and appearance, did indeed show something that called to mind the Saurians I spoke of just now.
> Passive infinitive 'gevoerd te worden': 'gevoerd te worden' = 'to be conducted': a passive infinitive (participle 'gevoerd' + 'worden') governed by 'scheen' (seemed) via 'te'. 'Er' opens the impersonal/existential frame.
> Separable 'uitstappen' + 'er' + relative: 'stapte er een heer uit' = 'a gentleman stepped out', with separable 'uit' at the end and presentative 'er'. The relative 'die … iets vertoonde' is verb-final ('showed something').
> 'Hoe dit zy' = 'however that may be': A frozen archaic phrase using the subjunctive 'zy' (= 'zij', be): 'however that may be / be that as it may'. The subjunctive survives only in such set literary tags.

Daar wy hem later zullen weerzien, wil ik u maar terstond zeggen dat zyn onbewegelykheid niet uitsluitend moest geweten worden aan de assimilatie met den reiswagen, want dat hy, ook als er op mylen afstands geen voertuig in de buurt was, een kalmte, een langzaamheid en een voorzichtigheid aan den dag leî, die menigen Saurier jaloersch maken zou, en die in de oogen van velen de kenmerken zyn van deftigheid, bezadigdheid en wysheid.  
Since we shall see him again later, I will tell you straight away that his immobility was not to be ascribed solely to the assimilation with the traveling carriage, for even when there was no vehicle for miles around, he displayed a calm, a slowness, and a caution that would make many a Saurian jealous, and that in the eyes of many are the marks of dignity, sedateness, and wisdom.
> Causal 'Daar' + future, then inversion: Fronted causal 'Daar wy … zullen weerzien' ('Since we shall see him again') is verb-final with future 'zullen weerzien'; the main clause then inverts ('wil ik').
> Modal + passive infinitive 'geweten worden': 'moest geweten worden aan' = 'was to be ascribed to': modal 'moest' over a passive infinitive ('geweten worden', be attributed), with the fixed 'aan'. ('geweten' here is the participle of 'wijten', to blame.)
> Conditional 'zou' in relative clause: 'aan den dag leggen' (to display) appears as 'aan den dag leî' (archaic past of 'leggen'). The relative 'die … jaloersch maken zou' is verb-final with conditional 'zou' ('that would make many a Saurian jealous').

Hy was, zooals de meeste Europeanen in Indie, zeer bleek, hetgeen echter in die streken geenszins voor een blyk van minder goede gezondheid wordt gehouden, en hy had fyne trekken die wel getuigden van verstandelyke ontwikkeling.  
He was, like most Europeans in the Indies, very pale, which in those regions, however, is by no means taken as a sign of poorer health, and he had fine features that bespoke a measure of intellectual cultivation.
> worden-passive + relative 'hetgeen': 'wordt gehouden voor' = 'is held/taken for': a present worden-passive. 'hetgeen' is the formal neuter relative ('which', referring to the whole preceding fact). 'geenszins' = 'by no means' (a negative adverb).
> Relative 'die' + 'getuigen van': 'die … getuigden van' = 'that bespoke / testified to': verb-final relative, with 'getuigen' governing the fixed preposition 'van'. 'trekken' (features) is a de-word plural, hence 'die'.

Alleen was er iets kouds in zyn blik, iets wat u denken deed aan een logarithmentafel, en hoewel zyn voorkomen over 't geheel niet onbehagelyk of terugstootend was, kon men zich toch niet onthouden van de verdenking dat zyn vry groote magere neus zich op dat gelaat verveelde, omdat er zoo weinig op voorviel.  
Only there was something cold in his gaze, something that made you think of a table of logarithms, and although his appearance on the whole was not disagreeable or repellent, one could not help suspecting that his rather large, lean nose was bored on that face, because so little happened upon it.
> Relative 'wat' + causative 'doen denken aan': 'wat … denken deed aan' = 'that made you think of': relative 'wat' (after 'iets'), with causative 'doen denken' and the fixed preposition 'aan'. The literary 'u' is the object 'you'.
> Reflexive 'zich onthouden van': 'zich onthouden van' = 'to refrain from': reflexive verb with fixed 'van'. The fronted concessive 'hoewel'-clause forces inversion ('kon men'); 'niet' negates.
> Noun compound 'logarithmentafel': 'logarithmentafel' = 'logarithmen' + 'tafel' = 'table of logarithms', a right-headed compound. The cold image (a face like a log table) is Multatuli's deadpan portrait of the bloodless Resident.

Met beleefdheid bood hy zyn hand aan een dame, om haar by het uitstygen behulpzaam te zyn, en nadat deze van een heer die nog in den wagen zat, een kind had aangenomen, een klein blond jongetje van een jaar of drie, traden zy de pendoppo in. Daarop volgde die heer zelf, en wien op Java bekend was, zou het als een byzonderheid in 't oog gevallen zyn, dat hy by 't portier wachtte om 't uitstygen gemakkelyk te maken aan een oude javaansche baboe.  
With courtesy he offered his hand to a lady, to help her in alighting, and after she had taken from a gentleman still sitting in the carriage a child — a small fair-haired boy of about three — they entered the pendoppo. Thereupon that gentleman himself followed, and to anyone familiar with Java it would have struck the eye as a peculiarity that he waited at the door to make the alighting easy for an old Javanese baboe.
> om … te + nominalised infinitive: Purpose clause 'om … behulpzaam te zyn' ('to help her'). 'het uitstygen' is the infinitive 'uitstijgen' used as a neuter noun ('the alighting'); 'behulpzaam zyn' takes the fixed preposition 'by'.
> 'nadat' + pluperfect, then inversion: 'nadat … had aangenomen' ('after she had taken') is a verb-final pluperfect with separable 'aannemen'. As a fronted subordinate clause it inverts the main clause: 'traden zy … in'.
> Relative 'wien' + conditional perfect: 'wien … bekend was' = 'to anyone to whom Java was known'. The main clause is a conditional perfect 'zou … gevallen zyn' ('would have struck'), with the idiom 'in 't oog vallen' (to catch the eye).

Een drietal bedienden hadden zichzelf verlost uit het wasleêren kastje, dat achter den wagen was vastgeplakt als een jonge oester op den rug van zyn mama.  
Three servants had freed themselves from the oilcloth chest that was stuck on behind the carriage like a young oyster on its mother's back.
> Reflexive 'zich verlossen' + diminutive: 'hadden zichzelf verlost' = 'had freed themselves': reflexive 'zich(zelf)' in the pluperfect. 'kastje' is the diminutive of 'kast' (chest/cupboard), small and neuter. 'wasleêren' = 'wax-leather / oilcloth' (period spelling with circumflex).
> zijn-passive 'was vastgeplakt': 'was vastgeplakt' = 'was stuck fast': a zijn-passive expressing the resulting state (participle 'vastgeplakt' + 'was'). The comic simile of the oyster on its mother's back is pure Multatuli.

De heer die het eerst was uitgestegen, had den Regent en den kontroleur Verbrugge de hand geboden, die zy met eerbied aannamen, en in hun geheele houding was te bespeuren dat zy gevoelden zich in de tegenwoordigheid te bevinden van een gewicht persoon.  
The gentleman who had stepped out first had offered his hand to the Regent and the controller Verbrugge, who took it with respect, and in their whole bearing it could be perceived that they felt themselves to be in the presence of a personage of weight.
> Pluperfect + relative 'die': 'had … de hand geboden' is a pluperfect (auxiliary 'had', participle 'geboden' from strong 'bieden'). The relative 'die' refers back to 'de hand'; 'zy … aannamen' is the verb-final relative clause.
> 'te + infinitive' as passive possibility: 'was te bespeuren' = 'could be perceived / was to be perceived': the 'zijn + te + infinitive' construction expresses a passive possibility. The fronted phrase inverts ('was te bespeuren'), and the 'dat'-clause is verb-final.

Het was de resident van Bantam, de groote landstreek waarvan Lebak een afdeeling, een regentschap, of, zooals men officieel zegt, een adsistent-residentie is.  
It was the resident of Bantam, the great region of which Lebak is a division, a regency, or, as one officially says, an assistant-residency.
> Relative adverb 'waarvan': 'waarvan' = 'of which': a relative pronominal adverb (waar + van) standing for 'van welke', opening a verb-final clause ('… is'). It links Lebak to the larger region of Bantam.

By 't lezen van verdichte verhalen, heb ik my meermalen geërgerd over den weinigen eerbied der schryvers voor den smaak van 't publiek, en vooral was dit het geval, waar zy blyk gaven iets te willen voortbrengen dat koddig of burlesk heeten moest, om nu niet van humor te spreken, een eigenaardigheid die byna doorgaande allerjammerlykst wordt verward met het komieke. Men voert een persoon sprekende in, die de taal niet verstaat of slecht uitspreekt, men laat een franschman zeggen: "ka kauw na de krote krak" of "krietje kooit keen kare kroente kraak wek." By-gebrek aan een franschman, neemt men iemand die stamelt, of men "schept" een persoon die zyn stokpaardje maakt van een paar telkens wederkeerende woorden.  
In reading works of fiction, I have more than once been vexed at the writers' scant respect for the taste of the public, and this was especially the case where they showed they meant to produce something that was supposed to pass for droll or burlesque — to say nothing of humor, a quality that is almost always most lamentably confused with the comic. One brings on a character who does not understand the language or speaks it badly, one makes a Frenchman say: "ka kauw na de krote krak" or "krietje kooit keen kare kroente kraak wek." For want of a Frenchman, one takes someone who stammers, or one "creates" a character who makes his hobbyhorse out of a couple of recurring catchwords.
> Reflexive 'zich ergeren over': 'zich ergeren over' = 'to be vexed/annoyed at': reflexive verb with fixed 'over', in the perfect 'heb ik my … geërgerd'. 'den weinigen eerbied' carries the old accusative 'den' + adjective -en.
> Separable 'invoeren' + participle 'sprekende': 'invoeren' (to bring on/introduce) splits: 'voert … in'. 'sprekende' is a present participle ('speaking') used adverbially. 'Men' is the impersonal 'one'.
> Causative 'laten zeggen': 'laat … zeggen' = 'makes/has (a Frenchman) say': causative 'laten' + bare infinitive 'zeggen'. The mangled mock-French that follows is Multatuli's example of the cheap comic device he is mocking.

Ik heb een allerzotste vaudeville zien "réusseeren" omdat daarin iemand voorkwam, die gedurig zeide: "myn naam is Meyer." My komen zulke geestigheden wat goedkoop voor, en, om de waarheid te zeggen, ik ben boos op u als ge zoo-iets grappig vindt.  
I have seen a thoroughly silly vaudeville "succeed" because a character appeared in it who kept saying: "my name is Meyer." To me such pleasantries seem rather cheap, and, to tell the truth, I am annoyed with you if you find such a thing funny.
> Perception 'zien' + double infinitive: 'heb … zien réusseeren' = 'have seen succeed': perception verb 'zien' with a bare infinitive, appearing itself as an infinitive in the perfect (infinitivus-pro-participio). 'allerzotste' is a superlative intensified by 'aller-' ('most utterly silly').
> Archaic 'ge' + 'als'-clause: 'ge' is the literary 'you'; the conditional 'als'-clause is verb-final ('… vindt'). Note the playful narrator addressing the reader directly as 'u/ge', a hallmark of Multatuli's voice.

Maar nu heb ikzelf u iets dergelyks voortestellen.  
But now I have something of the same kind to put before you myself.
> te-infinitive 'voortestellen': 'voortestellen' = 'voor te stellen' (to put before/propose), the te-infinitive of separable 'voorstellen', written joined in period style. The construction 'heb … voor te stellen' = 'have … to put before (you)'.

Ik moet van-tyd tot-tyd iemand ten-tooneele voeren--ik zal 't zoo weinig mogelyk doen--die inderdaad een manier van spreken had, welke my doet vreezen verdacht te worden van een mislukte poging om u te doen lachen, en hierom moet ik u uitdrukkelyk verzekeren dat het niet myn schuld is, als de hoogstdeftige resident van Bantam, van wien hier de rede is, iets zóó eigenaardigs vertoonde in zyn wyze van spreken, dat het me moeielyk valt dat weertegeven, zonder den schyn op me te laden dat ik effekt van geestigheid zoek in een tic.  
From time to time I must bring someone on stage — I shall do it as little as possible — who in fact had a manner of speaking that makes me fear being suspected of a botched attempt to make you laugh, and for this reason I must assure you expressly that it is not my fault if the most dignified resident of Bantam, of whom there is question here, displayed something so very peculiar in his way of speaking that I find it hard to reproduce it, without bringing upon myself the appearance of seeking the effect of wit in a tic.
> Formal relative 'welke' + passive infinitive: 'welke' is the formal/heavy relative ('which'), opening a verb-final clause. 'verdacht te worden van' is a passive infinitive ('to be suspected of'), and 'doet vreezen' is causative ('makes me fear').
> Idiom 'de rede zyn van': 'van wien hier de rede is' = 'of whom there is question here / who is being discussed': the set phrase 'de rede zijn van' (to be the subject of discussion), with the oblique relative 'wien'.
> Result clause 'zóó … dat': 'zóó … dat' = 'so … that': the intensifier 'zóó' sets up a result clause 'dat het me moeielyk valt' ('that I find it hard'), which is verb-final. 'iets eigenaardigs' shows the partitive -s after 'iets'.

Hy sprak namelyk op een toon, alsof achter elk woord een punt stond, of zelfs een lang rustteeken, en ik kan de ruimte tusschen zyn woorden niet beter vergelyken dan by de stilte die er volgt op het "amen" na een lang gebed in de kerk, hetwelk zooals ieder weet, een sein is dat men den tyd heeft tot verzitten, hoesten of neussnuiten.  
He spoke, that is, in a tone as if behind each word there stood a full stop, or even a long rest, and I cannot compare the spaces between his words better than to the silence that follows the "amen" after a long prayer in church, which, as everyone knows, is a signal that one has time to shift in one's seat, cough, or blow one's nose.
> 'alsof' (as if) + verb-final: 'alsof' = 'as if', a subordinating conjunction sending the verb to the end ('… stond'). The fronted 'achter elk woord' inverts within the clause.
> Comparative 'beter … dan': 'niet beter … dan' = 'no better than': comparative 'beter' with 'dan' for 'than'. The fixed verb 'vergelyken by/met' (to compare to) takes 'by' here.
> Formal relative 'hetwelk': 'hetwelk' is the heavy neuter formal relative ('which'), referring to the 'amen'. The embedded 'dat men den tyd heeft' is a verb-final content clause ('that one has time').

Wat hy zeide, was gewoonlyk goed overdacht, en wanneer hy zich die ontydige rustpunten had kunnen afwennen, zouden zyn zinsneden, uit een redekunstig oogpunt althans, meestal een gezond aanzien gehad hebben. Maar al dat afbrokkelen, dat stooterige en hobbelige, maakte het aanhooren lastig.  
What he said was usually well considered, and had he been able to break himself of those ill-timed pauses, his sentences would, from a rhetorical point of view at least, have mostly looked sound. But all that crumbling apart, that jolting and lurching, made him tiresome to listen to.
> Counterfactual: pluperfect + conditional perfect: A full counterfactual conditional: the 'wanneer'-clause is a verb-final pluperfect with reflexive 'zich … afwennen' ('had he been able to break himself of …'); the main clause is the conditional perfect 'zouden … gehad hebben' ('would have had').
> Verb cluster with reflexive: 'had kunnen afwennen' stacks pluperfect 'had' + modal infinitive 'kunnen' + separable infinitive 'afwennen' (to break a habit), all at the clause-end. The reflexive 'zich' is the object ('break himself of').

Men viel er dan ook dikwyls over. Want gewoonlyk, als men begonnen was te antwoorden in de goedige meening dat de zin uit was, en dat hy de aanvulling van 't ontbrekende aan de scherpzinnigheid van zyn toehoorder overliet, kwamen de nog ontbrekende woorden als trainards van een geslagen leger achteraan, en deden u gevoelen dat ge hem in de rede waart gevallen, wat altyd onaangenaam is.  
And so one was forever tripping over it. For usually, when one had begun to answer in the kindly belief that the sentence was finished, and that he had left the filling-in of what was missing to the shrewdness of his listener, the still-missing words came straggling up behind like the stragglers of a beaten army, and made you feel that you had cut him off in mid-speech, which is always unpleasant.
> Split 'er … over': 'er … over' is a split pronominal adverb ('over it'): 'erover vallen' = 'to trip over it'. The 'er' sits early, the preposition 'over' at the end; 'dan ook' and 'dikwyls' fill the middle field.
> Causative 'doen gevoelen' + pluperfect 'waart gevallen': 'deden u gevoelen' = 'made you feel': causative 'doen' + infinitive. 'in de rede vallen' (to interrupt) appears as a pluperfect with the archaic 2nd-person 'waart' (= was, with 'ge'): 'that you had cut him off'.

Het publiek der hoofdplaats Serang, voor-zoo-ver men niet in dienst stond van 't gouvernement--een verhouding die den meesten iets omzichtigs geeft--noemde zyn gesprekken "slymerig." Ik vind dit woord niet zeer smaakvol, doch moet erkennen dat het de hoofdeigenschap van des residents welsprekendheid vry juist uitdrukte.  
The public of the chief town, Serang, in so far as they were not in the service of the government—a relation that lends most people a certain wariness—called his manner of speaking "slimy." I do not find the word very tasteful, yet I must admit that it expressed the chief quality of the Resident's eloquence rather precisely.
> 'voorzoover' + impersonal 'men': 'voor-zoo-ver' (in so far as) is a subordinating conjunction, sending the verb to the end ('… stond'). 'men' is impersonal 'one/they'; 'in dienst staan van' = 'to be in the service of'.
> Pre-posed genitive 'des residents': 'des residents welsprekendheid' = 'the Resident's eloquence': an archaic pre-posed genitive (des + noun + -s), placed before the possessed noun like German. Modern Dutch would say 'de welsprekendheid van de resident'.

Ik heb van Max Havelaar en zyn vrouw--want dit waren de beide personen die na den resident met hun kind en de baboe uit den wagen gekomen waren--nog niets gezegd, en misschien ware het voldoende, de kenschetsing van hun voorkomen en karakter aan den loop der gebeurtenissen en des lezers eigen verbeelding overtelaten.  
Of Max Havelaar and his wife—for these were the two persons who, after the Resident, had stepped from the carriage with their child and the baboe—I have as yet said nothing, and perhaps it would suffice to leave the sketching of their appearance and character to the course of events and to the reader's own imagination.
> Subjunctive 'ware' + te-infinitive: 'ware het voldoende … over te laten' = 'it would be enough to leave …': 'ware' is the past subjunctive of 'zijn' (counterfactual 'were/would be'). 'overtelaten' = 'over te laten' (to leave to), separable te-infinitive joined in period style.
> Genitive 'des lezers': 'des lezers eigen verbeelding' = 'the reader's own imagination': another pre-posed genitive (des + lezer + -s). Multatuli leans on these solemn old genitives even in his conversational asides.

Daar ik evenwel nu eenmaal aan 't beschryven ben, wil ik u zeggen dat mevrouw Havelaar niet schoon was, dat zy echter in blik en spraak iets zeer lieftalligs bezat, en door de gemakkelyke ongedwongenheid van haar manieren het onmiskenbaar teeken gaf, dat zy in de wereld was geweest, en in de hoogere klassen der maatschappy te-huis behoorde.  
Since, however, I am now once embarked on describing, I will tell you that Mevrouw Havelaar was not beautiful, that she nonetheless had something very winning in her glance and her speech, and that by the easy unconstraint of her manners she gave the unmistakable sign that she had seen the world and belonged at home in the higher classes of society.
> Causal 'Daar' + 'aan 't' progressive: Causal 'Daar' (since) sends its verb to the end. 'aan 't beschryven zyn' = 'to be (in the act of) describing', the 'aan het + infinitive' progressive construction.
> Reported pluperfect 'was geweest': The 'dat'-clause is verb-final and ends in the pluperfect 'was geweest' ('had been (in the world)'). 'in de wereld geweest zyn' is the idiom for having moved in society.

Zy had niet dat styve en onbehagelyke van 't burgerlyk fatsoen dat, om voor "gedistingeerd" doortegaan, zich en anderen meent te moeten plagen met gêne, en ze hechtte dan ook niet aan veel uiterlyks wat voor sommige andere vrouwen waarde schynt te hebben.  
She had nothing of that stiff, uncomfortable air of bourgeois propriety which, in order to pass for "distinguished," thinks it must torment itself and others with awkward constraint, and so she set little store either by the outward trappings that seem to hold value for certain other women.
> Reflexive + stacked te-infinitive: 'meent te moeten plagen' = 'thinks it must torment': 'menen' governs 'te moeten plagen' (te + modal infinitive + main infinitive). The objects 'zich en anderen' include the reflexive 'zich' ('itself and others').
> om … te + separable 'doorgaan voor': 'om … doortegaan' = 'om door te gaan' (in order to pass for); separable 'doorgaan voor' = 'to pass for'. The te-infinitive is written joined: 'doortegaan'.

Ook in haar kleeding was zy een voorbeeld van eenvoudigheid.  
In her dress, too, she was a model of simplicity.

Een wit baadjoe van moesselien, met blauwe cordelière--ik geloof dat men in Europa zulk een kleedingstuk peignoir noemen zou--was haar reiskleed.  
A white baadjoe of muslin, with a blue cordelière—I believe that in Europe such a garment would be called a peignoir—was her traveling-dress.
> Archaic 'zulk' + conditional in 'dat'-clause: 'zulk een' = 'such a' (archaic/literary, modern 'zo'n'). The 'dat'-clause is verb-final and ends in the conditional cluster 'noemen zou' ('would call').
> Indies-and-Europe wardrobe: A 'baadjoe' (baju) is a loose Malay jacket/blouse; the 'cordelière' is a French waist-cord; 'peignoir' the French dressing-gown the narrator reaches for as a European equivalent. The blend mirrors Mevrouw Havelaar's unaffected, between-worlds simplicity.

Om den hals had zy een dun zyden koordje, waaraan twee kleine medaljons, die ge echter niet te zien kreegt, daar ze verscholen waren in de plooien voor hare borst.  
About her neck she wore a thin silk cord, from which hung two small lockets that you would not, however, have caught sight of, since they lay hidden in the folds at her breast.
> Relative 'waaraan' + 'te zien krijgen': 'waaraan' = 'on which / from which': relative pronominal adverb. 'te zien krygen' = 'to get to see / catch sight of'; with 'niet' and archaic 'ge', 'die ge niet te zien kreegt' = 'which you did not get to see'.
> Causal 'daar' + possessive 'hare': 'daar … verscholen waren' = 'since they lay hidden': causal 'daar', verb-final. 'hare borst' uses the inflected feminine possessive 'hare' (her), an old/literary form of plain 'haar'.

Overigens, de haren à la chinoise, en een kransje melatti in den kondeh ... ziedaar al haar toilet.  
For the rest, the hair à la chinoise, and a little wreath of melatti in the kondeh ... and there you have her whole toilette.
> Hair and jasmine: 'melatti' (melati) is the fragrant Javanese jasmine; the 'kondeh' (kondé) is the coiled hair-bun worn by women in the Indies, into which the little wreath is tucked. 'à la chinoise' is the French fashion term for the smooth, Chinese-style coiffure.

Ik zeide dat ze niet schoon was, en toch wilde ik niet gaarne dat ge haar voor het tegendeel hieldt.  
I said that she was not beautiful, and yet I would not willingly have you take her for the opposite.
> Modal 'willen' + 'voor … houden': Fronted 'toch' inverts ('wilde ik'). The 'dat'-clause is verb-final: 'ge … hieldt' (you held), with the idiom 'iemand voor … houden' ('to take someone for …'). 'hieldt' is the archaic 2nd-person past with 'ge'.

Ik hoop dat ge haar schoon vinden zult, zoodra ik gelegenheid zal hebben haar voortestellen, gloeiend van verontwaardiging over wat zy de "miskenning van 't genie" noemde, als haar aangebeden Max in 't spel was, of wanneer haar een denkbeeld bezielde, dat in-verband stond met het welzyn van haar kind.  
I hope that you will find her beautiful as soon as I have occasion to present her to you, glowing with indignation at what she called the "misjudgment of genius" whenever her adored Max was at stake, or when some idea seized her that was bound up with the welfare of her child.
> 'zoodra' + future, verb-final: 'zoodra' (as soon as) is subordinating, so the future cluster goes to the end: 'zal hebben … voortestellen' ('shall have occasion to present her'). 'voortestellen' = 'voor te stellen' (to present), joined te-infinitive.
> Past participle 'aangebeden' as adjective: 'aangebeden' is the past participle of 'aanbidden' (to adore) used attributively: 'her adored Max'. 'in 't spel zyn' is the idiom 'to be at stake / involved'.

Te dikwyls reeds is er gezegd dat het gelaat de spiegel der ziel is, om nog prys te stellen op de portretwaarde van een onbewegelyk gezicht, dat niets heeft aftespiegelen omdat er geen ziel in weerschynt.  
It has already been said too often that the face is the mirror of the soul, for one still to set any value on the portrait-worth of a motionless countenance that has nothing to mirror because no soul shines through it.
> 'te … om te' (too … to): 'Te dikwyls … om … te stellen' = 'too often … to still set value on': the 'te + adjective/adverb … om te + infinitive' frame ('too X to Y'). 'is er gezegd' is an impersonal worden/zijn-passive ('it has been said').
> Relative 'dat' + 'te'-infinitive 'aftespiegelen': 'gezicht' is a het-word, so the relative is 'dat'. 'aftespiegelen' = 'af te spiegelen' (to mirror/reflect), the separable te-infinitive joined; 'niets heeft af te spiegelen' = 'has nothing to mirror'.

Welnu, zy had een schoone ziel, en wel moest men blind zyn, om niet ook haar gelaat voor schoon te houden als die ziel daarop te lezen stond.  
Well then, she had a beautiful soul, and one would have had to be blind not to hold her face, too, for beautiful when that soul lay legible upon it.
> Modal + 'om … te' purpose/result: Fronted 'wel' inverts ('moest men'); modal 'moeten' sends 'zyn' to the end. The tail 'om niet … te houden' ('so as not to hold … as beautiful') is an 'om … te' clause; 'voor schoon houden' = 'to consider beautiful'.
> 'te lezen staan' + 'daarop': 'te lezen staan' = 'to be legible / to stand written': the 'staan te + infinitive' idiom. 'daarop' = 'on it' (pronominal adverb, on the face). The 'als'-clause is verb-final.

Havelaar was een man van vyf-en-dertig jaren.  
Havelaar was a man of thirty-five.
> Compound numeral + imperfect 'was': 'vyf-en-dertig' = 'five-and-thirty' (35): Dutch counts the unit before the ten, joined into one word. 'was' is the simple past of 'zijn', the narrative tense.

Hy was slank, en vlug in zyn bewegingen. Buiten zyn korte en bewegelyke bovenlip, en zyn groote flauw-blauwe oogen die, als hy in kalme stemming was, iets droomerigs hadden, maar vuur schoten als een groot denkbeeld hem beheerschte, viel er in zyn voorkomen niets byzonders optemerken.  
He was slender, and quick in his movements. Apart from his short, mobile upper lip and his large, pale-blue eyes—which, when he was in a calm mood, had something dreamy about them, but shot fire when some great idea took hold of him—there was nothing particular to remark in his appearance.
> Partitive 'iets droomerigs': 'iets droomerigs' = 'something dreamy': after 'iets', the adjective 'droomerig' takes the partitive genitive -s. The fronted 'als'-clause inverts nothing here as it is embedded in the relative.
> 'er … niets … op te merken': 'viel er … niets byzonders optemerken' = 'there was nothing particular to remark': existential 'er', negative 'niets byzonders' (partitive -s), and 'optemerken' = 'op te merken' (to remark), the joined separable te-infinitive.

Zyn blonde haren hingen sluik langs de slapen, en ik begryp zeer goed dat weinigen, hem voor 't eerst ziende, op het denkbeeld komen zouden iemand voor zich te hebben, die wat hoofd en hart beide aangaat tot de zeldzaamheden behoorde.  
His fair hair hung straight along his temples, and I understand very well that few, seeing him for the first time, would arrive at the notion that they had before them someone who, as to both head and heart, belonged among the rarities.
> Present participle 'ziende': 'ziende' is the present participle of 'zien' (seeing), used adverbially: 'seeing him for the first time'. 'voor 't eerst' = 'for the first time'.
> Reflexive 'voor zich' + relative: 'voor zich te hebben' = 'to have before oneself': the reflexive 'zich' after the preposition 'voor'. The relative 'die … behoorde tot' ('who belonged among') is verb-final with fixed 'tot'.

Hy was een "vat vol tegenstrydigheids." Scherp als een vlym, en zacht als een meisje, voelde hyzelf altyd het eerst de wonde die zyn bittere woorden geslagen hadden, en hy leed daaronder meer dan de gekwetste.  
He was a "vessel full of contradiction." Sharp as a lancet and soft as a girl, he himself always felt first the wound that his bitter words had dealt, and he suffered under it more than the one he had wounded.
> Old genitive '-s' in 'tegenstrydigheids': 'vat vol tegenstrydigheids' = 'vessel full of contradiction': 'tegenstrydigheid' carries the old genitive -s after 'vol' (full of), a deliberately archaic, almost biblical turn of phrase.
> Imperfect + relative pluperfect: Main verb 'voelde' (felt, imperfect). The relative 'die … geslagen hadden' is a verb-final pluperfect ('that his bitter words had dealt'), with strong participle 'geslagen' (from 'slaan').
> Comparison 'als' (as … as): 'Scherp als …, zacht als …' = 'sharp as …, soft as …': equative comparison with 'als' ('as'). Note 'meisje' is a diminutive and thus neuter, the model lexicalised diminutive.

Hy was vlug van begrip, vatte terstond het hoogste, het ingewikkeldste, speelde gaarne met de oplossing van moeielyke vragen, had daarvoor alle moeite, alle studie, alle inspanning veil ... en dikwyls toch begreep hy de eenvoudigste zaak niet, die een kind hem had kunnen uitleggen.  
He was quick of grasp, seized at once on the highest, the most intricate matter, liked to play with the solving of difficult questions, would spare for it any trouble, any study, any exertion ... and yet often failed to understand the simplest thing that a child could have explained to him.
> Superlative 'eenvoudigste' + 'niet': Fronted 'dikwyls toch' inverts ('begreep hy'). 'de eenvoudigste zaak' is the superlative ('the simplest thing'); clause-final 'niet' negates the verb.
> Relative + 'had kunnen uitleggen': Verb-final relative clause with a conditional-perfect modal cluster: 'had kunnen uitleggen' ('could have explained'), pluperfect 'had' + modal 'kunnen' + separable infinitive 'uitleggen'.

Vol liefde voor waarheid en recht, verwaarloosde hy menigmaal zyn eenvoudigste naastbyliggende verplichtingen, om een onrecht te herstellen dat hooger of verder of dieper lag, en dat door de vermoedelyk grootere inspanning van den stryd hem meer aanlokte.  
Full of love for truth and justice, he many a time neglected his simplest, nearest-lying obligations in order to set right some wrong that lay higher or farther off or deeper, and that, by the presumably greater effort of the struggle, drew him on the more.
> Imperfect + om … te: Fronted descriptive phrase 'Vol liefde …' inverts ('verwaarloosde hy'). The purpose tail 'om een onrecht te herstellen' = 'in order to set right a wrong' is an 'om … te' clause.
> Relative 'dat' for het-word: 'onrecht' is a het-word, so the relative is 'dat'. The verb-final clause ends in 'aanlokte' (allured), past of separable 'aanlokken'. 'hooger of verder of dieper' are comparatives ('higher, farther, deeper').

Hy was ridderlyk en moedig, maar verspilde, als die andere Don Quichot, zyn dapperheid dikwyls op een windmolen.  
He was chivalrous and brave, but, like that other Don Quixote, he often squandered his valor upon a windmill.
> Imperfect 'verspilde' + comparative 'als': 'verspilde' is the weak simple past of 'verspillen' (to squander). 'als die andere Don Quichot' = 'like that other Don Quixote', an equative comparison with 'als'.

Hy gloeide van onverzadelyke eerzucht die hem alle gewone onderscheiding in 't maatschappelyk leven, als nietig deed voorkomen, en toch stelde hy zyn grootst geluk in een kalm huiselyk vergeten leven.  
He glowed with an insatiable ambition that made all ordinary distinction in social life seem to him a trifle, and yet he placed his greatest happiness in a quiet, domestic, forgotten life.
> Relative die for a de-word: The clause opens with the relative pronoun die, which picks up the de-word eerzucht (ambition). Inside the relative clause the finite verb deed is pushed to the end, after the object hem and the rest of the clause.
> Inversion after en toch: Because the adverbial en toch (and yet) fronts the clause, the subject hy must follow the finite verb stelde — the verb still holds second position even though it is not first.
> Period spelling: huiselyk: Modern Dutch huiselijk (domestic), here with the 1860 -lyk for -lijk. The same y-for-ij swap runs through maatschappelyk and onverzadelyk in this sentence.

Dichter in den hoogsten zin van 't woord, droomde hy zich zonnestelsels by een vonk, bevolkte die met schepsels van zyn maaksel, voelde zich heer van een wereld die hyzelf had in 't leven geroepen ... en kon toch zeer goed terstond daarop zonder de minste droomery een gesprek voeren over den prys van de ryst, de regels der taal, of de oekonomische voordeelen eener egyptische hoenderbroeiery.  
A poet in the highest sense of the word, he dreamed himself solar systems out of a spark, peopled them with creatures of his own making, felt himself lord of a world he had himself called into being ... and yet could, the very next moment, carry on without the least dreaminess a conversation about the price of rice, the rules of grammar, or the economic advantages of an Egyptian egg-hatchery.
> Reflexive dative zich: zich is the third-person reflexive; here it works as a dative — 'dreamed himself solar systems', i.e. dreamed up for himself. Note also the inversion: the fronted Dichter ... clause forces subject hy after the verb droomde.
> Genitive der for a feminine noun: der is a frozen case-remnant — the old genitive/dative feminine article — so de regels der taal means 'the rules of the language'. Modern Dutch would prefer van de taal.
> Inflected eener (genitive of een): eener is the old genitive feminine form of the indefinite article een — 'of an Egyptian egg-hatchery'. These -er endings on articles are case-remnants alive in 1860 prose.

Geen wetenschap was hem geheel vreemd. Hem ahnde wat hy niet wist, en hy bezat in hooge mate de gaaf om 't weinige dat hy wist--ieder weet weinig, en hy, misschien meer wetende dan sommige anderen, maakte op dezen regel geen uitzondering--om dat weinige aantewenden op een wys die de maat zyner kennis vermenigvuldigde.  
No branch of knowledge was wholly foreign to him. He divined what he did not know, and he possessed in high measure the gift of turning the little that he did know—everyone knows little, and he, perhaps knowing more than some others, was no exception to this rule—of turning that little to use in a way that multiplied the measure of his learning.
> ahnde — a German loan: ahnde is borrowed from German ahnen, 'to sense/divine'. The construction is impersonal-dative: 'to him it was intimated what he did not know.' The verb leads because the dative Hem is fronted.
> om ... te purpose clause: om frames a purpose/result clause that closes with te + infinitive; here the separable verb aanwenden is written joined around te as aantewenden (modern aan te wenden).
> Present participle as adverbial: wetende is the -end(e) present participle ('knowing'), used here adverbially to describe hy. The comparative meer ... dan ('more ... than') sets up the comparison.

Hy was stipt en ordelyk, en daarby buitengewoon geduldig, doch juist omdat stiptheid, orde en geduld hem moeielyk vielen, daar zyn geest iets wilds had. Hy was langzaam en omzichtig in 't beoordeelen van zaken, hoewel dit niet zoo scheen aan wie hem zoo haastig zyn slotsommen hoorden uiten.  
He was punctual and orderly, and besides that uncommonly patient, yet precisely because punctuality, order, and patience came hard to him, since his mind had something wild about it. He was slow and circumspect in judging matters, although it did not seem so to those who heard him deliver his conclusions so hastily.
> Subordinator omdat sends the verb back: The subordinating conjunction omdat (because) opens a clause whose finite verb vielen drops to the very end. doch (yet) just before it is an archaic coordinating 'but'.
> wie without an antecedent: Here wie ('those who') heads a free relative with no antecedent noun. Within it the finite verb hoorden lands at the end, governing the bare infinitive uiten.
> omzichtig — circumspect: Literally 'looking-around-ish', from om (around) + zicht (sight): cautious, taking care to look on all sides before acting.

Zyn indrukken waren te levendig, dan dat men ze voor duurzaam houden durfde, en toch bewees hy dikwyls dat ze duurzaam waren.  
His impressions were too vivid for one to dare hold them lasting, and yet he often proved that they were lasting.
> te ... dan dat (too ... for): The pattern te + adjective, dan dat + clause expresses 'too X for Y to happen'. The result clause is subordinate, so its finite verb durfde sits at the end after the bare infinitive houden.
> durven + bare infinitive: durven (to dare), like a modal, governs a bare infinitive with no te: houden durfde, 'dared to hold/consider'. Both verbs cluster at the clause's end.

Al wat groot en verheven was, lokte hem aan, en tegelyker-tyd was hy onnoozel en naïf als een kind.  
All that was great and lofty drew him on, and at the same time he was as simple and naïve as a child.
> Separable aanlokken split apart: The separable verb aanlokken ('to attract') splits: the finite stem lokte stays in second position while its prefix aan is flung to the end of the clause.
> onnoozel — a false friend: In 1860 onnoozel meant 'innocent, simple, guileless' (paired here with naïf), not the modern Dutch onnozel's tinge of 'silly/dim'.

Hy was eerlyk, vooral waar eerlykheid in 't grootmoedige overging, en zou honderden die hy schuldig was, onbetaald laten omdat hy duizenden had weggeschonken. Hy was geestig en onderhoudend wanneer hy gevoelde dat zyn geest begrepen werd, maar anders stug en teruggetrokken.  
He was honest, above all where honesty passed over into magnanimity, and would leave hundreds he owed unpaid because he had given thousands away. He was witty and entertaining when he felt that his wit was understood, but otherwise gruff and withdrawn.
> Conditional zou + causative laten: zou + infinitive gives the conditional ('would leave'), and laten here is causative: onbetaald laten, 'to let remain unpaid'. The omdat-clause ends with the pluperfect had ... weggeschonken.
> worden-passive: begrepen werd is the process passive: worden + past participle, 'was understood'. Both the wanneer-clause and its embedded dat-clause are verb-final, stacking the verbs at the end.

Hartelyk voor zyn vrienden, maakte hy--wat te snel soms--zyn vriend van al wat leed. Hy was gevoelig voor liefde en aanhankelykheid ... trouw aan zyn gegeven woord ... zwak in kleinigheden, maar standvastig tot hoofdigheid toe, waar 't hem de moeite waard scheen karakter te toonen ... nederig en welwillend voor wie zyn geestelyk overwicht erkenden, doch lastig wanneer men poogde zich daartegen te verzetten ... rondborstig uit trots, en by vlagen achterhoudend, waar hy vreesde dat men zyn oprechtheid zou aanzien voor onverstand ... evenzeer vatbaar voor zinnelyk als voor geestelyk genot ... beschroomd en slecht bespraakt waar hy meende niet begrepen te worden, maar welsprekend als hy gevoelde dat zyn woorden op willigen bodem vielen ... traag als hy niet werd aangespoord door eenigen prikkel die voortkwam uit zyn eigen ziel, maar yverig, vurig, en doortastend waar dit wel het geval was ... voorts, vriendelyk, beschaafd in zyn manieren, en onberispelyk van gedrag: ziedaar nagenoeg Havelaar!  
Warm toward his friends, he made—too quickly, sometimes—a friend of anyone who suffered. He was responsive to love and devotion ... true to his given word ... weak in trifles, but steadfast to the point of stubbornness wherever it seemed to him worth the trouble to show character ... humble and obliging toward those who acknowledged his mental superiority, yet troublesome when one tried to set oneself against it ... frank out of pride, and by fits secretive where he feared that his candor would be taken for foolishness ... as susceptible to sensual as to intellectual pleasure ... bashful and ill-spoken where he supposed himself not understood, but eloquent when he felt that his words fell on willing ground ... sluggish when he was not spurred by some stimulus springing from his own soul, but eager, fiery, and pressing where this was the case ... furthermore, friendly, refined in his manners, and irreproachable in conduct: there, more or less, you have Havelaar!
> Fronted adjective forces inversion: The sentence opens on the predicative adjective Hartelyk, so the subject hy follows the finite verb maakte — verb-second in action across a long, dash-broken period.
> Reflexive verb + pronominal adverb: zich verzetten ('to resist') is reflexive, governed by poogde with te + infinitive. daartegen is a pronominal adverb fusing 'against + it' (tegen + dat), standard where Dutch avoids preposition + pronoun.
> Stacked subordinate clauses: A waar-clause holds a dat-clause inside it, each sending its verb to the end: vreesde, then the future-flavored zou aanzien. aanzien voor means 'to take/mistake for'.

Ik zeg: nagenoeg. Want indien reeds alle bepalingen moeyelyk zyn, geldt dit vooral van de beschryving van een persoon die zeer ver van den dagelykschen grondvorm afwykt.  
I say: more or less. For if all definitions are already difficult, this holds above all for the description of a person who deviates very far from the everyday mold.
> indien-clause then inverted main clause: indien ('if') is a literary subordinator that sends zyn to the end of its clause; the main clause then opens with the finite verb geldt because the conditional clause fills first position.
> Accusative den + adjective -en: After the preposition van, the masculine de-word takes the old accusative article den and the adjective shows the heavy ending -en (dagelykschen) — a case-remnant typical of 1860 prose.

Het zal dan ook wel hierom wezen, dat romandichters hun helden gewoonlyk tot duivels of engelen maken.  
It is no doubt for this reason, too, that novelists usually make their heroes into devils or angels.
> Future zullen + dummy het: zal ... wezen is the future with zullen + infinitive ('it will no doubt be'); Het is impersonal/dummy subject pointing at the following dat-clause. hierom is a pronominal adverb, 'for this reason'.
> Compound: roman + dichters: A right-headed noun compound, 'novel-poets' = novelists. Dutch glues nouns into one word, with the last element (dichters) carrying the gender and number.

Zwart of wit laat zich gemakkelyk schilderen, maar moeielyker is 't juist weergeven van schakeeringen die daartusschen liggen, wanneer men aan waarheid gebonden is en dus noch te donker noch te licht mag kleuren.  
Black or white lets itself be painted easily, but harder it is to render exactly the gradations that lie between them, when one is bound to the truth and so may color neither too dark nor too light.
> Reflexive laten zich + infinitive (passive sense): laat zich ... schilderen literally 'lets itself be painted' — a reflexive use of laten that conveys a passive/potential meaning ('can easily be painted').
> Comparative fronted, verb second: The comparative moeielyker ('harder') is fronted for emphasis, so the verb is precedes the subject 't (juist) weergeven. dus links the closing clause as a coordinating 'and so'.

Ik gevoel dat de schets die ik van Havelaar trachtte te geven, hoogst onvolkomen is.  
I feel that the sketch I attempted to give of Havelaar is in the highest degree imperfect.
> Relative die + trachten te: die is the relative for the de-word schets. The verb trachten ('to try') governs te + infinitive (te geven), and the whole verb cluster falls at the end of the relative clause.

De bouwstoffen die voor me liggen, zyn van zoo uiteenloopenden aard, dat ze my door overmaat van rykdom in myn oordeel belemmeren, en ik zal dus wellicht daarop, onder het ontwikkelen der gebeurtenissen die ik wensch meetedeelen, ter-aanvulling terugkomen.  
The materials that lie before me are of so divergent a kind that, by sheer excess of riches, they hamper me in my judgment, and so I shall perhaps return to them by way of supplement, in the course of unfolding the events I wish to relate.
> zoo ... dat result clause: zoo + adjective ... dat sets up a consequence clause ('of such a divergent kind that ...'). The dat-clause is verb-final, ending on belemmeren.
> Future zullen + separable terugkomen: zal ... terugkomen is the future with zullen; terugkomen ('to return to') is separable, but as an infinitive at the clause end it stays joined. daarop is a pronominal adverb, 'to them/it'.
> Joined infinitive meetedeelen: Period orthography writes the separable mede(e)delen with te tucked inside: meetedeelen = mee te delen, 'to relate/communicate'. wensch governs it as te + infinitive.

Dit is zeker, hy was een ongewoon mensch, en wel de moeite van 't bestudeeren waardig.  
This is certain: he was an unusual man, and well worth the trouble of studying.
> Simple past was: was is the imperfect (simple past) of zijn, the narrative past tense that carries the whole character sketch. wel here is an emphatic particle, not 'well'.
> Genitive 't bestudeeren: An infinitive used as a neuter noun ('the studying'), here governed by waardig ('worthy of'). The whole phrase = 'well worth the trouble of studying'.

Ik bemerk nu reeds dat ik verzuimd heb als een zyner hoofdtrekken optegeven, dat hy de belachelyke en de ernstige zyde der dingen met dezelfde snelheid en te-gelykertyd opvatte, aan welke eigenschap zyn wyze van spreken, zonder dat hyzelf dit wist, een soort van humor ontleende, die zyn toehoorders gedurig in twyfel bracht, of ze getroffen waren door 't diep gevoel dat in zyn woorden heerschte, of dat ze te lachen hadden over de koddigheid die op-eenmaal den ernst daarvan afbrak.  
I notice already that I have failed to give, as one of his chief traits, that he grasped the ludicrous and the serious side of things with the same speed and at the same instant—a quality from which his manner of speaking, without his knowing it himself, borrowed a kind of humor that kept his listeners forever in doubt whether they were moved by the deep feeling that reigned in his words, or whether they ought to laugh at the drollery that all at once broke off the seriousness of it.
> Present perfect + joined te-infinitive: verzuimd heb is the present perfect (hebben + participle), and optegeven is the separable opgeven written around te (= op te geven, 'to state'). zyner is an archaic genitive of zyn, 'of his'.
> Formal relative welke: welke is the heavier, period relative pronoun ('to which quality'). Such welk(e)/hetwelk relatives belong to formal 1860 prose where modern Dutch would use waaraan.
> Indirect double question of ... of: twyfel ('doubt') governs an embedded either/or question: of ... waren ... of dat ... hadden. te lachen hadden is 'had to laugh / had grounds to laugh', te + infinitive expressing obligation.

Opmerkelyk was 't dat zyn voorkomen, en zelfs zyn aandoeningen, zoo weinig sporen droegen van zyn doorgebracht leven. Het roemen op ondervinding is een belachelyke gemeenplaats geworden.  
It was remarkable that his appearance, and even his emotions, bore so few traces of the life he had lived through. To boast of experience has become a ridiculous commonplace.
> Past participle as adjective: doorgebracht ('spent / lived-through') is the past participle of the separable doorbrengen, here used attributively before leven — the participle behaves as an adjective.
> Present perfect with worden: is ... geworden is the perfect of worden ('has become'). Het roemen is a nominalized infinitive ('the boasting') serving as subject.

Er zyn lieden die vyftig of zestig jaren lang meedreven met het stroompje, waarin ze beweren te zwemmen, en die van al dien tyd weinig anders zouden kunnen verhalen dan dat ze verhuisd zyn van de A-gracht naar de B-straat. Niets is gewoner dan op ervaring te hooren bogen, juist door hen die hun gryze haren zoo gemakkelyk verkregen.  
There are people who for fifty or sixty years have drifted along with the little stream they claim to be swimming in, and who of all that time could relate little else than that they have moved from the A-canal to the B-street. Nothing is more common than to hear precisely those people pride themselves on experience who came by their gray hairs so easily.
> Imperfect of separable meedrijven: meedreven is the simple past of strong separable meedrijven ('drifted along'); the strong vowel change (ij→ee) marks it. The diminutive stroompje softens 'stream' to 'little stream'.
> Conditional zou + double infinitive: zouden kunnen verhalen stacks the conditional zouden with modal kunnen and main verb verhalen — a chain of bare infinitives at the clause end. dien is the old dative/accusative masculine of the demonstrative die (that) — die + the masculine suffix -n, not den + e.
> Negative word niets + comparative: niets ('nothing') is the single negative carrying the clause — Dutch allows only one negation. gewoner ... dan is the comparative 'more common than'.

Anderen weer meenen hun aanspraken op ondervinding te mogen gronden op werkelyk ondergane lotwisseling, zonder dat echter uit iets blykt dat ze door die veranderingen werden aangegrepen in hun zieleleven.  
Others again think they may ground their claims to experience upon vicissitudes actually undergone, though nothing makes it appear that they were touched by those changes in their inner life.
> te + modal mogen + infinitive: meenen governs te mogen gronden — te + the modal mogen ('may') + the main verb. ondergane is the past participle of ondergaan used as an attributive adjective, 'undergone'.
> worden-passive in the past: werden aangegrepen is the past process passive ('were seized/touched') with door marking the agent. The dat-clause is verb-final.

Ik kan me voorstellen dat het bywonen, of ondergaan zelfs, van gewichtige gebeurtenissen weinig of geen invloed heeft op zeker soort van gemoederen, die niet zyn toegerust met de vatbaarheid om indrukken optevangen en te verwerken.  
I can well imagine that being present at, or even undergoing, weighty events has little or no influence upon a certain sort of temperament not equipped with the capacity to catch impressions and to work them through.
> Modal kunnen + reflexive: kan ... voorstellen is the modal kunnen with bare infinitive; me voorstellen ('imagine to myself') is reflexive. The dat-clause sends heeft to the end.
> om ... te with two infinitives: om frames a purpose clause closing on te + infinitive, here doubled: optevangen (= op te vangen, separable, joined around te) en te verwerken — 'to catch and to process'.

Wie hieraan twyfelt, vrage zich af of men ondervinding zou mogen toekennen aan al de bewoners van Frankryk, die veertig of vyftig jaren oud waren in 1815?  
Whoever doubts this, let him ask himself whether one could attribute experience to all the inhabitants of France who were forty or fifty years old in 1815.
> Archaic subjunctive vrage: vrage is an archaic/literary third-person subjunctive ('let him ask'), a hortative form rare in modern Dutch. afvragen is separable and reflexive (zich afvragen); hieraan is a pronominal adverb, 'of this'.

En zy allen waren toch personen die 't belangryk drama dat in 1789 aanving, hadden zien opvoeren niet alleen, maar die zelfs in meer of min gewichtige rol, dat drama hadden meegespeeld.  
And yet they were all people who had not only seen performed the momentous drama that began in 1789, but who had even, in a more or less weighty role, themselves played a part in that drama.
> Pluperfect with perception verb: hadden zien opvoeren is the pluperfect of a perception construction: zien ('to see') takes a bare infinitive opvoeren, and the participle of zien appears as the infinitive zien (the 'IPP' / Ersatzinfinitiv rule).

En, omgekeerd, hoe velen ondergaan een reeks van aandoeningen, zonder dat de uiterlyke omstandigheden hiertoe schenen aanleiding te geven.  
And, conversely, how many undergo a whole series of emotions without the outward circumstances seeming to give any occasion for it.
> zonder dat clause: zonder dat ('without ... -ing') opens a subordinate clause whose verb schenen falls to the end. omgekeerd ('conversely') fronted forces the verb ondergaan to second position.

Men denke aan de Crusoë-romans, aan Silvio Pellico's gevangenschap, aan 't allerliefste Picciola van Saintine, aan den stryd in de borst eener "oude vryster" die haar geheel leven door, één liefde koesterde, zonder ooit door een enkel woord te verraden wat er omging in haar hart, aan de aandoeningen van den menschenvriend die, zonder uiterlyk in den loop der gebeurtenissen betrokken te zyn, vurig belang stelt in 't welzyn van medeburger of medemensch. Men stelle zich voor, hoe hy beurtelings hoopt en vreest, hoe hy elke verandering gadeslaat, zich opwindt voor een schoon denkbeeld, en gloeit van verontwaardiging, als hy het ziet wegdringen en vertrappen door de velen die, voor een oogenblik althans, sterker waren dan schoone denkbeelden.  
Think of the Crusoe novels, of Silvio Pellico's imprisonment, of Saintine's exquisite Picciola, of the struggle in the breast of an "old maid" who all her life long cherished one love without ever betraying by a single word what was passing in her heart, of the emotions of the philanthropist who, without being outwardly caught up in the course of events, takes a fervent interest in the welfare of fellow citizen or fellow man. Picture to yourself how he hopes and fears by turns, how he watches every change, how he is roused by some fine idea and glows with indignation when he sees it shoved aside and trampled by the many who, for a moment at least, were stronger than fine ideas.
> Archaic hortative denke: Men denke aan ('let one think of') uses the literary subjunctive -e ending on the bare stem, an elevated way to issue a general invitation. It recurs as Men stelle zich voor below.
> Genitive eener + relative die: eener is the old genitive feminine of een ('of an old maid'). The relative die introduces a long verb-final clause whose finite verb koesterde lands at the end.
> Perception verb + bare infinitive: ziet ('sees') governs bare infinitives wegdringen en vertrappen with no te — the perception-verb pattern. het is the object being shoved aside and trampled.

Men denke aan den wysgeer die van uit zyn cel aan 't volk tracht te leeren wat waarheid is, als hy bemerken moet dat zyn stem overschreeuwd wordt door piëtistische huichelary of gewinzoekende kwakzalvers.  
Think of the philosopher who from his cell strives to teach the people what truth is, when he must perceive that his voice is shouted down by pietistic hypocrisy or by gain-seeking quacks.
> Accusative den + relative + te-infinitive: den wysgeer carries the old accusative article den after aan. The relative die opens a clause where tracht governs te leeren, and the embedded wat-question ends on is.
> worden-passive with door: overschreeuwd wordt is the present process passive ('is shouted down'), with door naming the agent — the hypocrisy and quacks doing the drowning-out.

Men stelle zich Sokrates voor--niet als hy den gifbeker ledigt, want ik bedoel hier de ondervinding van 't gemoed, en niet die welke rechtstreeks door uiterlyke omstandigheden veroorzaakt wordt--hoe bitter bedroefd zyn ziel moet geweest zyn, toen hy die 't goede en ware zocht, zich hoorde noemen "een bederver der jeugd en een verachter der goden."  
Picture Socrates to yourself—not as he drains the cup of poison, for I mean here the experience of the heart, and not the kind that is brought about directly by outward circumstances—how bitterly grieved his soul must have been when he, who sought the good and the true, heard himself called "a corrupter of youth and a despiser of the gods."
> die welke + worden-passive: die welke pairs the demonstrative die with the formal relative welke ('the kind which'). veroorzaakt wordt is the worden-passive, 'is caused', with door marking the cause.
> Modal + perfect infinitive: moet geweest zyn = 'must have been': the modal moeten plus the perfect infinitive geweest zyn expresses inferred certainty about the past.
> Genitive der twice: der is the frozen genitive — der jeugd 'of youth', der goden 'of the gods'. Two case-remnant genitives in one charge, echoing the historical accusation against Socrates.

Of beter nog: men denke aan Jezus, waar hy zoo treurig staart op Jeruzalem, en zich beklaagt "dat het niet gewild heeft."  
Or, better still: think of Jesus, where he gazes so mournfully upon Jerusalem and laments "that it would not."
> Prepositional verb staren op: staart ... op is the prepositional verb staren op ('to gaze upon'); op stays with its object op Jeruzalem as a preposition, not a separable particle. zich beklaagt is reflexive, 'laments'.

Zulk een kreet van smart--vóór gifbeker of kruishout--vloeit niet uit een ongedeerd hart.  
Such a cry of pain—before poison-cup or cross—does not flow from an unscathed heart.
> niet vs geen in negation: Here niet negates the verb-phrase action ('does not flow'); contrast geen, which would negate an indefinite noun. ongedeerd ('unscathed') carries no -e because it is predicative-attributive on a neuter het-word, hart.
> kruishout — the cross: A compound, kruis ('cross') + hout ('wood'): the wood of the cross. Paired with gifbeker (poison-cup), it sets Christ beside Socrates as figures of suffering.

Dáár moet geleden zyn, veel geleden, daar is ondervonden!  
There must have been suffering, much suffering—there is experience!
> Impersonal passive with zijn: moet geleden zyn and is ondervonden are subjectless (impersonal) passives — 'there must have been suffering', 'there has been experience' — built on the participle without any grammatical subject. The accent on Dáár marks emphatic stress.

Deze tirade is me ontsnapt ... ze staat er nu eenmaal, en blyve.  
This tirade has escaped me ... it stands there now, once for all, and let it stand.
> Archaic subjunctive blyve: blyve is the literary subjunctive ('let it stand/remain'), formed from the bare stem + -e. nu eenmaal is the idiom 'as it is, once and for all'. er here is the existential/place particle.
> tirade — an outburst: tirade names a vehement, drawn-out flow of words; Multatuli wryly admits this impassioned digression 'escaped' him but refuses to delete it.

Havelaar had veel ondervonden.  
Havelaar had experienced much.
> Pluperfect had ... ondervonden: had + past participle ondervonden is the pluperfect, 'had experienced' — the past behind the narrative past, summing up his life before the story's present.

Wilt ge iets dat opweegt tegen de verhuizing van de A-gracht! Hy had schipbreuk geleden, meer dan eens.  
Do you want something that outweighs the removal from the A-canal? He had suffered shipwreck, more than once.
> Pronoun ge + separable opwegen: ge is the literary/period second-person 'you' (with verb wilt). opweegt is separable opwegen tegen ('to outweigh'), the prefix op fused here in the relative clause. The exclamation point gives it a near-imperative force.
> Pluperfect lijden (strong): had ... geleden is the pluperfect of the strong verb lijden ('to suffer'); the strong participle geleden shows the vowel shift ij→e rather than a -d/-t ending.

Hy had brand, oproer, sluikmoord, oorlog, duëllen, weelde, armoede, honger, cholera, liefde en "liefden" in zyn dagboek staan. Hy had vele landen bezocht, en omgang gehad met lieden van allerlei ras en stand, zeden, vooroordelen, godsdienst en gelaatskleur.  
He had fire, riot, assassination, war, duels, luxury, poverty, hunger, cholera, love, and "loves" entered in his journal. He had visited many lands and had dealings with people of every sort of race and rank, customs, prejudices, religion, and color of skin.
> Pluperfect with hebben ... staan: had ... staan is a pluperfect of position: 'had ... standing/entered in his journal'. staan (bare infinitive) functions almost like a participle in this hebben-construction.
> Pluperfect with bare adjective vele: bezocht and gehad form pluperfects under one had. vele takes -e as an attributive adjective before the plural landen. Note the long asyndetic noun list above relies on coordination by commas.
> sluikmoord — secret killing: A compound of sluik ('clandestine, smuggled') + moord ('murder'): assassination done by stealth, distinct from open killing in war (oorlog) listed alongside it.

Wat dus de levensomstandigheden aangaat, kon hy veel ondervonden hebben. En dat hy werkelyk veel ondervonden hàd, dat hy 't leven niet was doorgegaan zonder de indrukken optevangen die 't hem zoo ruimschoots aanbood, daarvoor moge ons de vlugheid van zyn geest borg wezen, en de ontvankelykheid van zyn gemoed.  
As far, then, as life's circumstances go, he could have experienced much. And that he really had experienced much, that he had not passed through life without catching the impressions it offered him so abundantly, of that let the quickness of his mind be our surety, and the receptiveness of his heart.
> wat ... aangaat + modal perfect infinitive: Wat ... aangaat ('as far as ... is concerned') is a fixed framing clause; the main verb kon then leads. kon ... ondervonden hebben pairs the modal kunnen with a perfect infinitive, 'could have experienced'.
> Archaic subjunctive moge: moge is the literary subjunctive of mogen ('may it be'). daarvoor is a pronominal adverb ('for that'); fronting it inverts the subject after moge. borg wezen = 'be surety'.

Dit nu wekte verwondering van allen die wisten of gissen konden hoeveel hy had bygewoond en geleden, dat hiervan zoo weinig op zyn gelaat te lezen was.  
Now this awakened wonder in all who knew, or could guess, how much he had witnessed and suffered—that so little of it was to be read upon his face.
> Nested verb-final clauses: The relative die opens a clause (wisten of ... konden), which itself contains an indirect question hoeveel ... had bygewoond en geleden ending in two pluperfect participles. Each subordinate layer drives its verbs rightward.

Wel sprak er uit zyn trekken iets als vermoeienis, doch dit deed eer denken aan vroegrype jeugd dan aan naderenden ouderdom. En naderende ouderdom had het toch moeten zyn, want in Indiën is de man van vyfendertig jaar niet jong meer.  
True, his features did speak of something like weariness, yet this made one think rather of a precocious youth than of approaching age. And approaching age it must nonetheless have been, for in the Indies a man of thirty-five is no longer young.
> Fronted Wel + existential er: Wel ('true, indeed') fronts the clause, so sprak comes before the subject iets. er here is the existential 'there', introducing the indefinite subject iets als vermoeienis.
> Pluperfect modal moeten zyn: had ... moeten zyn is the pluperfect of the modal moeten ('it must have been'). The fronted predicate naderende ouderdom forces inversion; naderende is a present participle used attributively.

Ook zyn aandoeningen, zeide ik, waren jong gebleven.  
His emotions, too, I said, had remained young.
> zijn-perfect of blijven: waren ... gebleven is the pluperfect of blijven ('had remained') — blijven takes zijn, not hebben, as its auxiliary. zeide is an archaic/literary past of zeggen ('I said').

Hy kon spelen met een kind, en als een kind, en meermalen klaagde hy dat "kleine Max" nog te jong was om vliegers optelaten, omdat hy "de groote Max" daarvan zoveel hield.  
He could play with a child, and like a child, and more than once he complained that "little Max" was still too young to fly kites, because he, "big Max," was so fond of it.
> om ... te purpose with joined infinitive: om vliegers optelaten = 'to fly kites' (om ... te, with separable oplaten joined around te). The dat-clause is verb-final, ending on was.
> vliegers oplaten — to fly kites: vlieger means 'kite' (also 'flyer'); oplaten is 'to let up / send aloft'. The image of the grown Havelaar wishing his son were old enough to fly kites underscores his childlike heart.

Met jongens sprong hy "haasjen-over" en hy teekende heel gaarne een patroon voor 't borduurwerk van de meisjes. Zelfs nam hy dezen meermalen de naald uit de hand, en vermaakte zich met dat werk, ofschoon hy dikwyls zei dat ze wel wat beters konden dan dat "machinale steken tellen." By jongelieden van achttien jaren was hy een jong student, die gaarne zyn Patriam canimus zong, of Gaudeamus igitur ... ja, ik ben niet geheel zeker, dat hy niet nog zeer kort geleden, toen hy met verlof te Amsterdam was, een uithangbord heeft afgebroken, dat hem niet behaagde omdat er een neger op geschilderd was, geboeid aan de voeten van een Europeaan met een lange pyp in den mond, en waaronder natuurlyk te lezen stond: de rookende jonge koopman.  
With boys he played "leapfrog," and he loved to draw a pattern for the girls' embroidery. He would even take the needle from their hands more than once and amuse himself with that work, though he often said that they could do something better than that "mechanical counting of stitches." Among young people of eighteen he was a young student, who liked to sing his Patriam canimus, or Gaudeamus igitur ... indeed, I am not entirely certain that, only very recently, when he was at Amsterdam on leave, he did not tear down a signboard that displeased him because there was painted on it a negro, shackled at the feet of a European with a long pipe in his mouth, and underneath which there naturally stood to be read: the smoking young merchant.
> Diminutive plural meisjes: meisje ('girl') is itself a diminutive (and so neuter) of meid; its plural takes -s. The middle field shows Time/Manner ordering with the adverb heel gaarne before the object.
> Demonstrative dezen as dative object: dezen is the inflected demonstrative ('from these/them'), carrying the old dative -en — 'took the needle out of their hand'. The fronted Zelfs inverts the subject after nam.

De baboe die hy uit den wagen had geholpen, geleek op alle baboes in Indie, als ze oud zyn.  
The baboe whom he had helped from the carriage resembled all baboes in the Indies, when they are old.
> Relative die + pluperfect, then geleek op: The relative die opens a verb-final clause ending in the pluperfect had geholpen. geleek op is the simple past of gelijken op ('resembled'). den wagen keeps the old accusative den after uit.

Wanneer ge deze soort van bedienden kent, behoef ik u niet te zeggen hoe zy er uitzag. En als gy ze niet kent, kan ik het u niet zeggen.  
If you know this sort of servant, I need not tell you how she looked. And if you do not know them, I cannot tell you.
> Conditional ge + main-clause inversion: The wanneer-clause is verb-final (kent at the end); the main clause then leads with behoef before subject ik. ge / u are the literary 'you' forms of 1860. behoeven ... te zeggen = 'need to tell'.
> niet negating the verb: niet negates the action in both halves ('do not know', 'cannot tell'). Note gy alongside ge — both period spellings of the same 'you'. The als-clause is verb-final, then kan leads.

Dit alleen onderscheidde haar van andere kindermeiden in Indie, dat ze zeer weinig te doen had. Want mevrouw Havelaar was een voorbeeld van zorg voor haar kind, en wat er voor of met de kleine Max te doen viel, deed zyzelf, tot groote verwondering van veel andere dames, die niet goedkeurden dat men zich maakte tot "slavin van zyn kinderen."  
This alone set her apart from other nursemaids in the Indies, that she had very little to do. For Mevrouw Havelaar was a model of care for her child, and whatever there was to be done for or with little Max, she did herself, to the great wonder of many other ladies, who did not approve of one's making oneself the "slave of one's children."
> Fronted clause + emphatic zyzelf: The whole wat ... te doen viel clause fills first position, so the main verb deed precedes its subject zyzelf ('she herself', emphatic). er is the existential particle, te doen viel = 'was to be done'.
> Reflexive zich maken tot: zich maken tot ('to make oneself into') is reflexive; the relative die opens the clause, with the verb goedkeurden at the end and an embedded dat-clause inside. slavin is the feminine of slaaf.
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Source text: public domain (Multatuli / Eduard Douwes Dekker, d. 1887; Dutch 1860, Project Gutenberg #11024). English translation: original, © 1732 Studios (2026); rendered freshly from the public-domain Dutch, not derived from any prior English translation. Sentence-aligned by 1732 Studios.