There are different types of short subclauses but they all have two things in common:
- A short subclause does not have a subject
- A short subclause always contains a 'te + infinitive'
Another word for 'short subclause' is 'infinitive clause'.
No subject
In short subclauses, the subject is omitted. This is a phenomenon we also see in English.
This is a sentence with a main clause and a 'complete' subclause:
Main clause | [conj](#/lesson/WordOrder.58) | [SUB](#/lesson/WordOrder.04) | [PLACE](#/lesson/WordOrder.15) | [VERBS](#/lesson/WordOrder.57)
Ik had beloofd | dat | ik | op zijn verjaardag | zou komen
I had promised that I would come to his birthday
In the sentence below, we omitted the subject in the subclause:
Main clause | [SUB](#/lesson/WordOrder.04) | [PLACE](#/lesson/WordOrder.15) | [VERBS](#/lesson/WordOrder.57)
Ik had beloofd | - | op zijn verjaardag | te zullen komen
I had promised to come to his birthday
The most common short subclause is the abbreviated 'that' clause, like the one above. See also [that-verbs + te + infinitive](#/lesson/Verbs.Au10).
Te + infinitive
In the example above, you probably noticed the change that took place in the VERBS part: _zou komen_ turned into _te zullen komen_. This is a typical characteristic of the short subclause:
In a short subclause, the finite verb
turns into _te_ \+ infinitive
The finite verb _zou_ turned into te + infinitive: _te zullen_.
In the absence of a subject, we no longer need a finite (conjugated) verb.