Formal Expectations with "Geacht worden te"
When you want to express that someone is officially expected to do something—such as following university guidelines—Dutch uses the construction geacht worden te ("to be expected to").
| to be expected to | geacht worden te |
To build a sentence, conjugate the auxiliary verb worden according to the subject. Place geacht later in the sentence, followed by te and the infinitive verb at the end.
| One is expected to write an original essay. | Men wordt geacht een origineel essay te schrijven. |
| You are expected to formulate your answers academically. | Je wordt geacht je antwoorden academisch te formuleren. |
Academic Integrity and Negation
This formal phrasing is highly common in academic codes of conduct. To express that someone is expected not to do something, place the negation (such as niet) directly before the te + infinitive block.
| Students are expected not to cheat during the exam. | Studenten worden geacht niet te spieken tijdens het tentamen. |
You will often see this construction paired with vocabulary related to academic integrity, such as writing an assignment (het werkstuk) or citing sources (citeren).
| Since this is an academic assignment, you are expected to cite. | Aangezien dit een academisch werkstuk is, word je geacht te citeren. |
| To prevent plagiarism, you are expected to mention your sources. | Om plagiaat te voorkomen, word je geacht je bronnen te vermelden. |
Word Order in Subordinate Clauses
In a subordinate clause (for example, after a conjunction like aangezien), the conjugated form of worden moves to the end of the clause, sitting directly after geacht.
| Cheating is forbidden, since one is expected to be honest. | Spieken is verboden, aangezien men geacht wordt eerlijk te zijn. |
