Questions & Answers about De hond is oud geworden.
In English we say "has become", so why does Dutch use is instead of heeft?
In Dutch, the present perfect tense uses either hebben (to have) or zijn (to be) as the helping verb. Verbs that describe a change of state or a change of location usually take zijn. Because worden (to become) is the ultimate "change of state" verb, it always uses zijn. So, a Dutch speaker literally says "The dog is old become."
What is the dictionary form of the verb geworden?
Geworden is the past participle of the verb worden, which means "to become" or "to get".
Why is geworden at the very end of the sentence?
This is the standard word order for the present perfect tense in Dutch. The helping verb (is) takes the second position in the sentence, and the past participle (geworden) gets pushed all the way to the end.
Why do we use oud here instead of oude?
You only add an -e to the end of an adjective when it comes directly in front of a noun (like in de oude hond, meaning "the old dog"). Here, the adjective stands on its own to describe the dog, so it keeps its basic, uninflected form (oud).
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