Breakdown of De man zei dat hij de fout had toegegeven.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
de man
the man
hebben
to have
zeggen
to say
de fout
the mistake
dat
that (conjunction)
toegeven
to admit
Questions & Answers about De man zei dat hij de fout had toegegeven.
Why do we use the past perfect had toegegeven here?
This is the sequence of tenses in action. Because the reporting verb is in the past tense (zei), the tense of the original statement shifts back. If the man originally said, 'Ik heb de fout toegegeven' (I have admitted the mistake), the present perfect (heb) turns into the past perfect (had) in reported speech.
Why are the verbs had and toegegeven all the way at the end?
The word dat introduces a subordinate clause, which forces all verbs to the end of the sentence in Dutch. You have the auxiliary verb had and the past participle toegegeven placed together at the very end.
Could I change the order of the verbs at the end to toegegeven had?
Yes, you can! In subordinate clauses with a compound tense, you can put the auxiliary verb first (had toegegeven) or the past participle first (toegegeven had). Both are grammatically correct, though had toegegeven is generally more common in spoken Dutch.
What kind of verb is toegegeven and why is the ge in the middle?
It is the past participle of the separable verb toegeven (to admit). Because it is a separable verb, the -ge- prefix used to form the past participle gets sandwiched directly between the separable prefix toe- and the main verb geven, creating toegegeven.
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