Breakdown of De acteur was de rol aan het spelen.
zijn
to be
spelen
to play
aan
on / at (attached to, edge)
de acteur
the actor
de rol
the role
Questions & Answers about De acteur was de rol aan het spelen.
Why is de rol placed before aan het spelen, instead of after it like in English?
In Dutch, the continuous structure was aan het + infinitive is split up. The verb (was) goes in the normal second position of the sentence, but the rest of the structure (aan het spelen) gets pushed to the very end. Objects like de rol must go in between them.
Why use was ... aan het spelen instead of the simple past tense speelde?
You use was aan het spelen to emphasize that the action was ongoing at a specific moment in the past, just like "was playing" in English. If you just said De acteur speelde de rol, it sounds more like a general fact: "The actor played the role".
Does the het in aan het spelen change because rol is a de-word?
No, it never changes! The phrase aan het is a fixed combination used to build the continuous tense. It stays exactly the same even though the nouns in this sentence (de acteur and de rol) are both de-words.
Is acteur used for both men and women?
Generally, acteur refers to a male actor. If you want to specifically refer to a female actor, you would use the word actrice.
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