Word
Zij beginnen de locatie schoon te maken.
Meaning
They are starting to clean the location.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Zij beginnen de locatie schoon te maken.
zij
they
beginnen
to begin
schoonmaken
to clean
te
to (infinitive marker)
Questions & Answers about Zij beginnen de locatie schoon te maken.
Why is it schoon te maken as three separate words instead of te schoonmaken?
Schoonmaken (to clean) is a separable verb made of the prefix schoon and the base verb maken. In a te infinitive clause, the word te must be placed exactly between the prefix and the base verb, splitting it into three separate words.
Why isn't there an om in this sentence?
The verb beginnen (to start) is one of the specific verbs in Dutch that links directly to a te clause without using om. Other common verbs that do this include proberen (to try) and hoeven (to need).
Why does the object de locatie come before schoon te maken?
In Dutch, the te + infinitive combination always gets pushed to the very end of the clause. Any objects receiving that action, like de locatie, must be placed before the verb parts.
How can you tell that Zij means "They" and not "She" here?
You can tell by looking at the verb beginnen. Because it has the plural -en ending, the subject must be "they". If it were "she", the sentence would use the singular verb form: Zij begint de locatie schoon te maken.