Shortened clauses with te: zonder, door, na and alvorens

A shortened clause can express the same relation as a full subordinate clause without stating its subject or using a finite verb. Compare Nadat Salma het contract had gelezen, tekende ze het (After Salma had read the contract, she signed it) with Na het contract gelezen te hebben, tekende Salma het (After reading the contract, Salma signed it).

Choose an introducer that fits the meaning, omit the recoverable subject, and replace the finite verb with a te-infinitive. Then check that the unspoken doer has a clear grammatical match in the clause directly above it.

1. Identify the relation: door gives a means or cause, zonder says that something does not happen, na places a completed action first, alvorens means before, and teneinde gives a formal purpose.
2. Remove the subordinate-clause subject only if the reader can recover it from the immediately higher clause.
3. Replace the finite verb with te + infinitive. After na, use the perfect infinitive: past participle + te hebben/te zijn.
4. With a separable verb, put te between the particle and the verb: invullen → in te vullen and aanzetten → aan te zetten.

The introducer can change when the clause is shortened: nadat becomes na, voordat can become formal alvorens, and formal opdat can correspond to teneinde. Door and zonder likewise introduce useful shortened clauses. Do not add om after these words: write zonder te vragen, not zonder om te vragen.

In an ordinary shortened clause, its implied subject must refer to the subject, indirect object, or direct object of the immediately higher clause. It is not always the main-clause subject, so the short school rule that both subjects must match is too narrow.

A conventional speaker comment such as om eerlijk te zijn (to be honest) can have the general implied subject ‘one’ or ‘people’. Treat such fixed expressions as a limited exception, not as permission to leave the doer unclear in an ordinary event clause.

Here na means that the shortened action is complete before the action in the higher clause. Dutch therefore uses a past participle followed by te hebben or te zijn: Na de cijfers gecontroleerd te hebben, verstuurde Jo het overzicht (After checking the figures, Jo sent the overview) and Na in Brussel aangekomen te zijn, belde Lina haar collega (After arriving in Brussels, Lina called her colleague). Choose hebben or zijn as you would in an ordinary perfect tense.

The perfect structure also explains why te does not split the lexical separable verb in this pattern. Compare zonder het formulier in te vullen (without filling in the form) with na het formulier ingevuld te hebben (after having filled in the form). In the second phrase, te belongs with the auxiliary hebben.

• Use door ... te to present an action as the way something is achieved: Door de gegevens te vergelijken, ontdekte Inez de fout. (By comparing the data, Inez found the error.)
• Use zonder ... te when the matching person does not perform the added action: Hij vertrok zonder afscheid te nemen. (He left without saying goodbye.)
• Use na ... te hebben/te zijn to place one completed action before another: Na betaald te hebben, ontving Farid een bevestiging. (After paying, Farid received a confirmation.)
• Use alvorens and teneinde mainly in formal instructions and reports. Neutral Dutch often prefers a full clause with voordat or a purpose clause with om ... te.

• Do not create a dangling shortened clause: Na het rapport gelezen te hebben, begon de vergadering makes de vergadering the only overt candidate for the reader. Write Na het rapport gelezen te hebben, begon de voorzitter de vergadering or restore a full nadat-clause.
• Do not use a simple infinitive after temporal na: write na de aanvraag gecontroleerd te hebben, not na de aanvraag te controleren, when the check is completed first.
• Do not keep a separable verb joined around te: write zonder het licht uit te doen, not zonder het licht te uitdoen.

Review the basic te-infinitive, om ... te clauses, and verb-final subordinate clauses. A participial clause can also have an unspoken subject; apply the full matching rule from this page there.