Breakdown of De manager is de klacht aan het oplossen.
zijn
to be
aan
on / at (attached to, edge)
oplossen
to solve / to resolve
de klacht
the complaint
de manager
the manager
Questions & Answers about De manager is de klacht aan het oplossen.
What does the phrase aan het do in this sentence?
It creates the continuous form, showing that an action is happening right now. In Dutch, you use a form of the verb zijn (to be) + aan het + the infinitive of the action verb. Here, is ... aan het oplossen means 'is resolving'.
Why does de klacht come before aan het oplossen?
In Dutch, the object of the sentence (de klacht) comes before the aan het + infinitive combination. The literal word order is 'The manager is the complaint on the resolving'.
Oplossen (to resolve) is a separable verb. Why aren't the parts separated here?
Because the aan het construction requires the full, unbroken infinitive of the verb. Separable verbs only split when they act as the main, conjugated verb (for example: De manager lost de klacht op). In our sentence, the conjugated verb is is, so oplossen stays together.
How would I change this sentence to say 'The manager would resolve the complaint'?
You would use zou (the singular form of zouden) and drop the aan het continuous structure. The sentence becomes: De manager zou de klacht oplossen. Just like in the sentence above, the infinitive verb (oplossen) gets pushed to the very end of the sentence.
Learn De manager is de klacht aan het oplossen and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free