Breakdown of De rechercheur vraagt de getuige waar het wapen is.
zijn
to be
waar
where
vragen
to ask
de rechercheur
the detective
het wapen
the weapon
de getuige
the witness
Questions & Answers about De rechercheur vraagt de getuige waar het wapen is.
Why is the verb is at the very end of the sentence?
The phrase waar het wapen is is an indirect question. In Dutch, indirect questions act like subordinate clauses, which means the conjugated verb gets pushed to the very end. If it were a normal, direct question, the word order would simply be: Waar is het wapen?
Why isn't there a word for 'to' before de getuige?
With verbs of communicating or giving, Dutch often drops the preposition aan (to) if the receiver is placed right after the verb. You could say vraagt aan de getuige, but just saying vraagt de getuige (asks the witness) is very common and perfectly correct.
Why use rechercheur instead of just detective?
In Dutch, de rechercheur specifically refers to a police detective working for the official police force. The English loanword de detective is mostly used for private investigators or characters in fiction books.
Is de getuige used for both male and female witnesses?
Yes, de getuige (the witness) is a gender-neutral noun. You use the exact same word whether the witness is a man or a woman.
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