Breakdown of De weg is afgesloten, omdat het asfalt moet worden verwijderd.
zijn
to be
moeten
to have to, must
worden
to become
omdat
because (subordinating)
de weg
the road
afsluiten
to close off
het asfalt
the asphalt
verwijderen
to remove
Questions & Answers about De weg is afgesloten, omdat het asfalt moet worden verwijderd.
How do we form the passive voice with a modal verb here?
To say something 'must be done', Dutch uses a modal verb (moet) + worden + a past participle (verwijderd). Unlike a standard passive sentence that conjugates worden, the modal verb takes charge here, so worden stays in its full infinitive form.
Why are all three verbs piled up at the very end of the sentence?
The word omdat (because) is a subordinating conjunction, which pushes all the verbs in its clause to the end. When you have a modal, an auxiliary, and a past participle together, a very natural order is modal (moet) + auxiliary (worden) + participle (verwijderd).
Could I put the past participle first and say verwijderd moet worden?
Yes, you can! In Dutch subordinate clauses, the past participle can often go either before or after the auxiliary verbs in the verb cluster. Both moet worden verwijderd and verwijderd moet worden are completely correct and natural.
In the first half, why do we use is afgesloten instead of wordt afgesloten?
Using is afgesloten describes a state or a completed result: the road is already closed. If you used wordt afgesloten, it would mean the action is happening right at this moment (the road is currently being closed by workers).
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