Breakdown of Het monument werd voor de soldaten opgericht.
voor
for (on behalf of)
worden
to become
het monument
the monument
oprichten
to found / to establish
Questions & Answers about Het monument werd voor de soldaten opgericht.
Why is werd used here instead of was?
In Dutch, the passive voice is formed using the past tense of worden (to become), not zijn (to be). Because this sentence describes an action happening in the past, we use werd (singular past tense) alongside the past participle opgericht.
Where does the past participle opgericht come from?
It comes from the separable verb oprichten (to erect or to found). When making the past participle of a separable verb, the ge- part is inserted between the prefix (op) and the main verb (richten), which gives us opgericht.
Why is opgericht placed at the very end of the sentence?
This shows the classic Dutch "sentence bracket" or "verb sandwich". In a main clause, the conjugated auxiliary verb (werd) always takes the second position, while any other verbs, like the past participle (opgericht), get pushed to the very end.
Why does the spelling change from the singular soldaat to the plural soldaten?