Breakdown of Deze kapotte lantaarnpaal moet meteen worden verwijderd.
deze
this / these
moeten
to have to, must
meteen
immediately
worden
to become
Questions & Answers about Deze kapotte lantaarnpaal moet meteen worden verwijderd.
Why do we use worden instead of zijn for the passive here?
This sentence uses the present passive with a modal verb (moeten). When you say something must be done, you use the modal verb + worden (to be) + the past participle (verwijderd). If it were already removed (present perfect passive), you would use zijn, but here the action still needs to happen.
Why are both worden and verwijderd at the end of the sentence?
In Dutch main clauses, the conjugated verb (moet) takes the second position. Any other verbs, like the passive auxiliary worden and the past participle verwijderd, are pushed to the very end of the sentence. You can actually swap their order at the end (verwijderd worden is also correct), but worden verwijderd is very common.
Why does kapot get an extra -te to become kapotte?
Lantaarnpaal is a de-word. When an adjective comes before a noun and follows a specific word like deze (this), it gets an -e ending. Also, because the 'o' in kapot is a short vowel, we have to double the 't' to keep the vowel sound short, making it kapotte.
Why does the past participle verwijderd end in a 'd' instead of a 't'?