Breakdown of Mijn broer is helemaal geobsedeerd door fotografie.
zijn
to be
de broer
the brother
mijn
my
helemaal
completely
door
by (agent in a passive sentence)
geobsedeerd
obsessed
de fotografie
the photography
Questions & Answers about Mijn broer is helemaal geobsedeerd door fotografie.
Why does the sentence use door instead of met for "with"?
This is a fixed preposition. In English, you are obsessed with something, but in Dutch, you are always obsessed by it (geobsedeerd door). Translating "with" directly to met is a very common mistake here, but geobsedeerd met is incorrect.
What if I wanted to say "My brother is completely obsessed with it"? How does door change?
Because door is a preposition, combining it with "it" (het) creates a pronominal adverb. Het + door becomes erdoor. You would say: Mijn broer is er helemaal door geobsedeerd.
Could I use compleet or volledig instead of helemaal for "completely"?
Yes, you can absolutely say compleet geobsedeerd or volledig geobsedeerd. However, helemaal is extremely common in everyday, casual Dutch to mean "completely" or "totally" when emphasizing a feeling or state.
I noticed fotografie uses an f and ends in -ie. Is that a predictable pattern?
Yes! Words of Greek/Latin origin that use "ph" in English almost always use f in Dutch (like filosofie or telefoon). Furthermore, English nouns ending in "-y" often translate to Dutch words ending in -ie, especially for fields of study or abstract concepts (like biologie or theorie).
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