Breakdown of Een week geleden zocht ik in het archief naar de geboorte van mijn opa.
ik
I
een
a/an
in
in
naar
to
zoeken
to look for
mijn
my
de week
the week
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
de opa
the grandpa
geleden
ago
het archief
the archive
de geboorte
the birth
Questions & Answers about Een week geleden zocht ik in het archief naar de geboorte van mijn opa.
Why does geleden come after Een week?
In Dutch, geleden translates to "ago", and it acts as a time postposition. This means it always comes immediately after the duration of time it refers to. Just like in English, "a week ago" translates to the time duration (Een week) followed directly by geleden.
Why is the verb before the subject (zocht ik) instead of ik zocht?
This happens because of the verb-second (V2) rule. Since the sentence starts with the time phrase Een week geleden, that entire phrase takes up the first position. The main verb (zocht) must take the second position, which forces the subject (ik) to swap places and immediately follow it.
Why is the word naar used in this sentence?
It pairs with the verb zocht. In Dutch, the verb zoeken (to search) requires the preposition naar when you are specifying what you are searching for. Even though the location phrase in het archief sits between them, zocht and naar work together to mean "searched for".
What is the infinitive of zocht?
The infinitive is zoeken (to search). It is an irregular verb, which is why both the vowels and consonants change so much in the simple past tense (zocht) and the present perfect participle (gezocht).
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