Breakdown of Heb je het nieuws op televisie al gezien?
hebben
to have
zien
to see
op
on
het nieuws
the news
de televisie
the television
al
already
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
Questions & Answers about Heb je het nieuws op televisie al gezien?
Why does gezien end in -en instead of -d or -t?
Gezien is the past participle of the verb zien (to see). Zien is an irregular verb. Instead of getting a -d or -t at the end, many irregular verbs keep the -en ending in their past participle form. You just have to memorize that zien becomes gezien.
Why is gezien at the very end of the sentence?
In Dutch, when you use a perfect tense (like "have seen"), the helper verb (heb) takes the normal verb position, and the past participle (gezien) gets pushed all the way to the end of the sentence.
Why do we use op before televisie?
Just like in English where you watch something "on" television, Dutch uses the preposition op (on) for media screens, broadcasts, and the internet.
What does al mean here, and why is it placed where it is?
Al means "already". In Dutch, short time-related words like al usually come after the specific object (het nieuws) but before the past participle at the end of the sentence.
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