Breakdown of De roman die door de dichter wordt vertaald, is mooi.
zijn
to be
mooi
beautiful
worden
to become
die
who / that (relative pronoun)
Questions & Answers about De roman die door de dichter wordt vertaald, is mooi.
Why do we use door here?
In passive sentences, the person or thing doing the action (the agent) is introduced by door, which means 'by'. Here, door de dichter tells us the novel is translated 'by the poet'.
Why is the translation action written as wordt vertaald instead of is vertaald?
In English, we say 'is translated', but Dutch uses the verb worden (to become) to form the present tense of the passive voice. If you said is vertaald, it would mean the translation was already completely finished in the past ('has been translated'). Using wordt vertaald shows the translation is happening in the present.
Why do the verbs wordt vertaald go at the end of the middle phrase?
The phrase die door de dichter wordt vertaald is a relative clause. This is a mini-sentence starting with die (that/which) that describes the noun before it (De roman). In Dutch relative clauses, all the verbs are pushed to the very end.
Why is there a comma right before is mooi?
The comma marks the end of the relative clause (die... vertaald). The core sentence is simply De roman is mooi (The novel is beautiful). The comma helps separate that main idea from the extra information about the poet.