Word
Het is verboden de kamer te betreden.
Meaning
It is forbidden to enter the room.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Het is verboden de kamer te betreden.
The current lesson is about bare infinitives on signs, like Niet roken. Why does this sentence use te betreden instead of a bare infinitive?
While public signs often use a bare infinitive as a short command (like Niet betreden for 'Do not enter'), this sentence uses a full grammatical structure: Het is verboden... ('It is forbidden...'). Whenever you use a structure like 'It is [adjective] to [verb]', Dutch requires te before the infinitive, just like the English word 'to'.
Could I drop the te and just write Verboden de kamer betreden on a sign?
No, if you use the word verboden, you still need te because it implies the phrase 'forbidden to...'. You will often see this shortened on signs as Verboden te betreden. If you want to use the bare infinitive rule from this lesson, you must drop verboden entirely and just write De kamer niet betreden.
Why is verboden used here? Is it a verb or an adjective?
Verboden is the past participle of the verb verbieden (to forbid). In this sentence, it functions as an adjective meaning 'forbidden'. Combined with Het is (It is), it describes the rule or state of the room.
Does betreden mean the exact same thing as binnenkomen?