Word
Hebben jullie de goochelaar zien buigen?
Meaning
Did you guys see the magician bow?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hebben jullie de goochelaar zien buigen?
jullie
you (plural)
hebben
to have
zien
to see
de goochelaar
the magician
Questions & Answers about Hebben jullie de goochelaar zien buigen?
Why is it zien here instead of the past participle gezien?
This is the core of the double infinitive rule! When a verb of perception like zien (to see) is used in the perfect tense along with another action verb like buigen (to bow), it drops its past participle form (gezien) and uses the full infinitive (zien) instead.
Why is the word order zien buigen and not buigen zien?
When you have a double infinitive at the end of a sentence, the verb of perception (zien) comes just before the action verb it is observing (buigen). They cluster together at the very end.
Why does the English translation say "Did you guys see" when the Dutch sentence uses the perfect tense Hebben ... zien?
In spoken Dutch, the present perfect is the most common way to talk about completed past events. English prefers the simple past ("Did you see"), but Dutch prefers the perfect tense, even though they describe the same past event.