Breakdown of De wetenschappers hadden niets gevaarlijks gemeten.
hebben
to have
niets
nothing
gevaarlijk
dangerous
meten
to measure
Questions & Answers about De wetenschappers hadden niets gevaarlijks gemeten.
Why does gevaarlijks have an -s at the end?
When an adjective describes indefinite words like iets (something), niets (nothing), veel (much), or weinig (little), the adjective gets an extra -s at the end. So, "dangerous" is gevaarlijk, but "nothing dangerous" becomes niets gevaarlijks.
What tense is hadden ... gemeten?
This is the past perfect tense, which means "had measured." Just like the present perfect uses hebben (have) plus a past participle, the past perfect uses the past tense hadden (had) plus the past participle gemeten.
Why is the word order "hadden niets gevaarlijks gemeten" instead of keeping the verbs together?
In Dutch main clauses, the conjugated verb (hadden) takes the second position, but the past participle (gemeten) must be pushed to the very end of the sentence. The object (niets gevaarlijks) gets sandwiched in between them.
What is the infinitive (dictionary form) of gemeten?
The infinitive is meten (to measure). It is a strong (irregular) verb, which is why it gets the ge- prefix but keeps an -en ending instead of a regular -t or -d ending in the past participle.