Breakdown of De baas is de auto aan het repareren.
zijn
to be
de auto
the car
de baas
the boss
aan
on / at (attached to, edge)
Questions & Answers about De baas is de auto aan het repareren.
Why does de auto come before aan het repareren?
In English, we say 'is repairing the car', keeping all the verb parts together. But in Dutch, the object (de auto) gets placed between the helping verb (is) and the continuous marker (aan het). The formula is always: conjugated form of zijn + object + aan het + infinitive verb.
Could I just say De baas repareert de auto instead?
Yes, absolutely! Dutch doesn't use this continuous form as often as English does. The simple present tense repareert can mean both 'repairs' and 'is repairing'. You only use the is ... aan het structure when you want to strongly emphasize that the boss is busy doing it right at this exact moment.
What does aan het literally mean in this sentence?
Literally, it means 'at the', so the sentence roughly translates to 'The boss is at the repairing of the car'. It helps to think of it as saying the boss is currently busy 'at' this specific task. Together with the verb zijn, it acts just like the '-ing' ending in English.
Is repareren related to the English word 'repair'?