Breakdown of Ik moest op de saaie baan solliciteren.
ik
I
op
on
moeten
to have to, must
de baan
the job
solliciteren
to apply
saai
boring
Questions & Answers about Ik moest op de saaie baan solliciteren.
How does the verb moest work here?
Moest is the simple past tense (imperfectum) of the modal verb moeten (must / to have to). When talking about the past, Dutch strongly prefers using this simple past form for modal verbs. So, ik moest translates exactly to "I had to".
Why is solliciteren at the very end of the sentence?
This happens because of the modal verb moest. In a standard Dutch sentence, the conjugated modal verb takes the second position, and it pushes the main action verb (solliciteren) to the very end of the sentence in its full infinitive dictionary form.
Why do we use op instead of voor to mean "for" the job?
In Dutch, the verb solliciteren (to apply) has fixed prepositions: you must use either op or naar. While in English you apply for a job, in Dutch you apply on (op) or to (naar) a job. You cannot use voor here.
Why is there an extra "-e" on the word saai?
Because baan (job) is a de-word (de baan). When an adjective comes before a noun and follows the word de, it gets an -e added to the end. So the base word saai (boring) becomes saaie.
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