"What is happening in the cave?"

Translation: Wat gebeurt er in de grot?

[MattZaghainov]

Why is "er" needed here at all?

[ArielLeung2]

According to other threads, "er" is most often for phonetical convenience. What I don't understand is why it's unacceptable to omit it. Is "er" grammatically necessary in this sentence?

[Guaranteeist]

why can it not be "wat er gebeurt in de grot?" - with the "er" and "gebeurt" swapped around?

[Simius]

This is known as inversion, where the subject follows the verb. It is used for questions and for certain subclauses.

See here for more on inversion and Dutch word order.

[MentalPinball]

Hi Simius,

Would you share the url, aub? Links don't seem to work on the app, unfortunately.

[costyn]

Your sentence translates as "what happens in the cave" as a statement, not as a question.

[yuyu2809]

Evolution, Morty