Word
De toerist wilde de kunstenaar fotograferen.
Meaning
The tourist wanted to photograph the artist.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De toerist wilde de kunstenaar fotograferen.
willen
to want
de toerist
the tourist
fotograferen
to photograph
de kunstenaar
the artist
Questions & Answers about De toerist wilde de kunstenaar fotograferen.
Why is the verb fotograferen at the very end of the sentence?
In Dutch, when you use a modal or helping verb like wilde (wanted), the second verb is pushed to the very end of the sentence in its full dictionary form (the infinitive).
Wilde looks like the English word 'wild' or 'would'. What does it mean here?
Wilde is the singular past tense of the verb willen, which means 'to want'. So wilde means 'wanted'. Watch out for this 'false friend' because it looks like the English 'will', but it strictly means wanting to do something.
How would I change this sentence to say the tourist 'was photographing' the artist, using this lesson's continuous posture verbs?
You would replace wilde with a posture verb in the past tense, like stond (stood), and add te before the infinitive at the end. It becomes: De toerist stond de kunstenaar te fotograferen. This translates to 'The tourist was (standing) photographing the artist.'
What is the root word of kunstenaar (artist)?
The root word is kunst, which means 'art'. The ending -enaar or -aar is often added to words to describe a person's profession or regular activity, similar to '-er' or '-ist' in English.