Learn Dutch: Door de slechte staat valt het schilderij niet te redden. - Due to the bad condition, the painting cannot be saved.

Using vallen + te + infinitive is a common Dutch structure to express whether something can or cannot be done. While you could use a standard passive voice like het schilderij kan niet gered worden (the painting cannot be saved), using valt ... niet te redden is often preferred by native speakers to express that something is simply impossible to do.

Could I use is instead of valt here, like is niet te redden?

Yes, absolutely! Both is niet te redden and valt niet te redden mean 'cannot be saved' and are used to express passive potential. They are largely interchangeable in everyday Dutch, though you'll find that vallen te is very popular in negative statements to emphasize that something is a lost cause.

I learned that door means 'through'. Why is it translated as 'due to' here?

While door often refers to physical movement 'through' something, it is also the standard preposition to indicate a cause or reason. In contexts like this, it means 'due to', 'because of', or 'by'. The bad condition is the cause of the painting being unrescuable, making door the perfect fit.

Why is the verb valt placed before the subject het schilderij?