Breakdown of De baas beweerde dat het gerucht nep was.
zijn
to be
de baas
the boss
dat
that (conjunction)
nep
fake
beweren
to claim
het gerucht
the rumor
Questions & Answers about De baas beweerde dat het gerucht nep was.
How does the tense change here compared to what the boss actually said?
The boss originally said: 'Het gerucht is nep' (The rumor is fake). Because we are reporting this in the past using beweerde (claimed), the present tense is shifts back to the simple past was.
Why is was placed at the very end of the sentence?
The word dat (that) introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch sub-clauses, all verbs are pushed to the end. So instead of keeping the normal word order (dat het gerucht was nep), the verb moves to the back: dat het gerucht nep was.
How do we get the past tense form beweerde from the verb beweren?
The infinitive is beweren (to claim). To get the stem, we drop the -en and double the vowel to keep the long 'e' sound: beweer. Since 'r' is not in the consonant memory word 't kofschip, we add -de to form the singular past tense: beweerde.
Would the adjective nep (fake) change if it were placed directly before the noun?
Yes. In this sentence, nep comes after the verb was, so it doesn't get an ending. However, if you used it directly before the noun, as in 'the fake rumor', it would get an -e ending: het neppe gerucht.
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