Breakdown of Het gevaarlijke werk kon niet worden toegestaan vanwege de gezondheid.
niet
not
het werk
the work
kunnen
can
worden
to become
gevaarlijk
dangerous
vanwege
because of / due to (reason)
toestaan
to permit
de gezondheid
the health
Questions & Answers about Het gevaarlijke werk kon niet worden toegestaan vanwege de gezondheid.
How does the past passive work with the modal verb in kon niet worden toegestaan?
To make a passive sentence with a modal verb in the past tense, you use the simple past of the modal (kon), but keep the passive helper verb worden as an infinitive at the end of the sentence. The past participle (toegestaan) goes right before it. Notice that we don't use the past tense of worden here; the modal verb kon already shows that the sentence is in the past.
Why is the past participle toegestaan instead of getoestaan?
The verb toestaan (to allow) is a separable verb made of toe + staan. When forming the past participle of a separable verb, the -ge- goes between the prefix and the base verb. Because the past participle of staan is gestaan, they combine to form toegestaan.
Why does gevaarlijke have an -e at the end here?
Werk is a neuter noun (a het-word). When a het-word is preceded by the specific article het, any adjective in between gets an -e ending. The only time a neuter noun drops that -e is when it follows een (a) or has no article in front of it at all, as in gevaarlijk werk (dangerous work).
Could I use omdat instead of vanwege to say 'because of'?
No, they work differently! Vanwege is a preposition meaning 'because of' or 'due to', and it is followed directly by a noun phrase like de gezondheid. Omdat means 'because' and is a conjunction that must introduce a full clause with its own subject and verb.
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