Breakdown of We zijn vandaag ver gevlogen.
zijn
to be
vandaag
today
vliegen
to fly
ver
far
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
Questions & Answers about We zijn vandaag ver gevlogen.
Why does this sentence use zijn instead of hebben for the past tense?
In English, we always say 'we have flown', but in Dutch, verbs that show a clear change of location (going from point A to point B) use zijn (to be) as the helping verb. Because flying is a movement to a new place, you must say We zijn ... gevlogen rather than using hebben.
Why is gevlogen at the very end of the sentence?
When you use the present perfect tense in Dutch, the helping verb (here, zijn) takes the second position in the sentence, while the past participle (gevlogen) gets kicked to the very end. The extra details like time and distance get sandwiched in between.
Why does vandaag come before ver?
Dutch sentences follow a general rule for word order called Time-Manner-Place. Words that tell you when something happens (like vandaag, meaning today) usually come before words that tell you where or how far it happens (like ver, meaning far).
What is the dictionary form of gevlogen?
It is the past participle of the verb vliegen (to fly). Just like 'fly' changes to 'flown' in English, Dutch strong verbs change their vowels in the past tense. Here, the ie in vliegen changes to an o to become gevlogen.
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