Breakdown of Hij heeft een belangrijke verkeersregel genegeerd.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
een
a/an
hebben
to have
belangrijk
important
negeren
to ignore
de verkeersregel
the traffic rule
Questions & Answers about Hij heeft een belangrijke verkeersregel genegeerd.
Why is there an -s- in the middle of verkeersregel?
Verkeersregel is a compound noun made of verkeer (traffic) and regel (rule). The -s- in the middle is a linking sound (called a tussen-s). While the rules for the tussen-s can be flexible, you generally add it if you naturally hear an 's' sound when joining the two words, provided the first word doesn't already end in an 's' sound.
Why does belangrijke end in -e even though it comes after een?
You only drop the -e from an adjective after een if the noun is a neuter word (a het-word). The gender of a compound noun always comes from its final part. Since regel is a de-word (de regel), the whole compound is de verkeersregel. Therefore, the adjective keeps its standard -e ending: een belangrijke verkeersregel.
Why does the past participle genegeerd end in a -d instead of a -t?
Genegeerd comes from the verb negeren (to ignore). To find the correct ending, we remove -en from the infinitive to get the stem: neger. Because the final letter r is not in the consonant memory aid 't kofschip (or soft ketchup), the past participle gets a -d.
Why is genegeerd placed at the very end of the sentence?
This sentence uses the present perfect tense. In a standard Dutch main clause, this forms a "verb bracket": the conjugated helper verb (heeft) takes the second position in the sentence, while the past participle (genegeerd) gets pushed all the way to the end, wrapping around the object (een belangrijke verkeersregel).
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