"Naar school gaan is soms noodzakelijk."

Translation: Going to school is sometimes necessary.

[LGFreeRock0828]

Maybe I've forgotten something from an earlier lesson, but I am just wondering why this is inverted.

Is "Gaan naar school is soms noodzakelijk" a valid sentence as well?

[sjudel]

'Gaan naar school' is not valid. 'Naar school gaan' is the infinite form, that's what you need to use here.

[LGFreeRock0828]

Thank you.

[marleinrusch]

It's a good question.. don't know the exact rule, but usually the infinitive and preposiotional phrase can be inverted. E.g. "Lopen op het gras is verboden" vs. "Op het gras lopen is verboden" (both ok), or "Zingen in de douche is leuk" vs. "In de douche zingen is leuk", etc. It seems though, at least for all examples I can think of, that with 'gaan' it only works one way (prep. phr. + inf.).

[Susande]

I tried finding it here but there are A LOT of pages on word order there, so I couldn't find the rule.

[WordFitlySpoken]

Actually, the gerund is the subject. (In this case, the "Naar school gaan.") I think that's what you meant, but just mentioning to be sure no one gets confused, because all sentences have a subject. :)

[Susande]

Thanks, I removed it from my post.

[LGFreeRock0828]

Thank you, Susande. I should probably take the time to go through all those pages.

[Susande]

You're welcome. Since it are so many pages I guess it's better to only look up specific things, like this question you have now. Next to that it can help to learn e.g. 1 or 2 pages a day, if you like learning rules that is. You can also do without learning rules. When you read and listen to quite a bit of Dutch, the correct word order will start sounding 'natural' too. It depends what you prefer and what keeps you motivated.

[Daniel0457]

what is the difference between "going to school" and "to go to school". I think it's the same.