Breakdown of De romans die door die bekende schrijver worden geschreven, zijn duur.
zijn
to be
duur
expensive
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
schrijven
to write
Questions & Answers about De romans die door die bekende schrijver worden geschreven, zijn duur.
Why do we use door for 'by' in this sentence?
In passive sentences, Dutch uses door to introduce the 'agent'—the person or thing actually doing the action. Here, the novels aren't writing themselves; they are written door (by) the writer.
Why are the verbs worden geschreven pushed all the way to the comma?
The part starting with the first die is a relative clause (a type of subclause that gives more information about the novels). In Dutch subclauses, all the verbs get pushed to the end. Since the subclause ends at the comma, that's exactly where the verbs go.
There are two die's in this sentence. Do they mean the same thing?
No, they have different jobs here! The first die means 'that' or 'which' and connects the novels to the extra information. The second die means 'that' in a pointing way (die bekende schrijver = that famous writer).
Why does the adjective bekend get an extra -e to become bekende?
Because schrijver is a de-word (it's de schrijver). When you put an adjective in front of a de-word and there is a pointing word like de, die, or deze before it, you must add an -e to the adjective.