Breakdown of Tijdens het sollicitatiegesprek leek de man erg zenuwachtig.
de man
the man
erg
very / really
tijdens
during
lijken
to seem
het sollicitatiegesprek
the job interview
zenuwachtig
nervous
Questions & Answers about Tijdens het sollicitatiegesprek leek de man erg zenuwachtig.
Why is leek used here instead of scheen or bleek?
Lijken (here in the past tense as leek) is used for impressions based on direct observation—for example, seeing the man sweat or fidget. If the sentence used scheen (from schijnen), it would mean hearsay: someone told us he was nervous. If it used bleek (from blijken), it would mean it factually turned out he was nervous based on hard evidence (like him admitting it later).
Why is the word order leek de man instead of de man leek?
The sentence starts with the phrase Tijdens het sollicitatiegesprek (During the job interview). In Dutch, whenever you start a main clause with anything other than the subject, the verb and subject must swap places. This rule is called inversion, which is why the verb leek comes right before the subject de man.
What is the literal breakdown of the word sollicitatiegesprek?
It is a compound noun made of sollicitatie (job application) and gesprek (conversation or talk). Put together, it is the standard Dutch word for a job interview.
Why doesn't the adjective zenuwachtig get an -e at the end?
Because zenuwachtig (nervous) is not placed directly in front of a noun. Here, it acts as a "predicate adjective," meaning it comes after a linking verb (leek) to describe the subject (de man). In Dutch, adjectives in this position never get an -e ending.
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