Breakdown of De gouden munten waren jaren geleden opgegraven.
zijn
to be
het jaar
the year
gouden
golden
geleden
ago
opgraven
to excavate
de munt
the coin
Questions & Answers about De gouden munten waren jaren geleden opgegraven.
Why does the Dutch sentence use waren instead of hadden for "had been"?
In Dutch, the perfect passive tenses (has been / had been) are formed using the auxiliary verb zijn (to be) rather than hebben (to have). Since the coins are plural and the sentence is in the past perfect, we use waren (were). The full structure waren opgegraven translates to "had been excavated" in English.
Why is the adjective gouden instead of goude?
Adjectives that describe what a physical object is made of (material adjectives) generally end in -en, regardless of the noun's gender or whether it is singular or plural. Since the coins are made of gold (goud), the adjective takes the fixed form gouden.
What is the literal meaning of jaren geleden?
The word geleden means "ago" when placed after a period of time. It is actually the past participle of an old verb meaning "to pass" or "to glide by". So jaren geleden literally means "years passed", which is how Dutch expresses "years ago".
How is the past participle opgegraven put together?
It comes from the separable verb opgraven (to excavate or dig up). When forming the past participle of a separable verb, the prefix ge- is inserted right between the separable part (op) and the verb stem (graven), resulting in opgegraven.
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