Breakdown of Met deze techniek zijn de krassen te verwijderen.
zijn
to be
met
with
deze
this / these
te
to (infinitive marker)
Questions & Answers about Met deze techniek zijn de krassen te verwijderen.
Why does the Dutch sentence use zijn and te verwijderen instead of translating 'can be removed' literally?
This is the 'passive potential' construction you are learning! In Dutch, using a form of zijn (to be) + te + an infinitive like verwijderen (to remove) is a very natural way to express that something can be done to a subject. While you could technically say kunnen worden verwijderd, this zijn te structure is shorter and often preferred for stating possibilities or properties.
Why is the verb zijn plural here when the English translation just says 'can'?
In the zijn te construction, the verb zijn acts as the main verb and must match the subject. Here, the subject is de krassen (the scratches), which is plural. If the sentence was about just one scratch, it would use the singular form: Met deze techniek is de kras te verwijderen.
Why does zijn come right after techniek rather than after the subject?
This happens because of the V2 (verb-second) rule. The sentence starts with the prepositional phrase Met deze techniek (With this technique). Since that entire phrase occupies the first position, the conjugated verb zijn must take the second position, pushing the subject de krassen to the third position.
Is there a trick to remembering the vocabulary word verwijderen?