Word
De baas is de administratie aan het bijwerken.
Meaning
The boss is updating the administration.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De baas is de administratie aan het bijwerken.
zijn
to be
de baas
the boss
de administratie
the administration / the records
bijwerken
to update
Questions & Answers about De baas is de administratie aan het bijwerken.
Why does de administratie come before aan het bijwerken?
This is a key rule for the Dutch present continuous. The direct object (de administratie) must be placed before the aan het block. You can think of is and aan het bijwerken as a pair of brackets that surround the direct object.
Could I say De baas is aan het bijwerken de administratie, just like in English?
No, that is grammatically incorrect in Dutch. Because of the verb bracket rule, the aan het + infinitive part must be pushed to the very end of the clause. The direct object cannot come after it.
I thought bijwerken was a separable verb. Why isn't it split up here?
You are right that bijwerken is a separable verb! In the simple present you would split it (for example, De baas werkt de administratie bij). However, the aan het construction always requires the full, undivided infinitive at the end of the sentence, so it stays glued together as bijwerken.
How does the word bijwerken translate to "updating"?
It is a combination of bij (by/up) and werken (to work). Literally, it implies "working something up" to the current status, which translates to updating, touching up, or bringing something up to date.