Breakdown of Weet u waarom de student astrologie gestudeerd heeft?
de student
the student
u
you (formal)
hebben
to have
waarom
why
Questions & Answers about Weet u waarom de student astrologie gestudeerd heeft?
Why are the verbs at the very end written as gestudeerd heeft?
In a subordinate clause (the part starting with waarom), all verbs move to the end. Because this uses the perfect tense, you have a past participle (gestudeerd) and a helping verb (heeft). You can put them in two different orders: gestudeerd heeft (this is called the green order) or heeft gestudeerd (the red order). Both are correct!
Is there any difference in meaning between gestudeerd heeft and heeft gestudeerd?
No, the meaning is exactly the same. The choice between the red order (heeft gestudeerd) and the green order (gestudeerd heeft) is mostly a matter of rhythm or personal preference. Spoken Dutch often favors the green order, while written Dutch slightly favors the red order, but you will frequently see both.
Why does the sentence start with the verb Weet?
The main part of the sentence is a yes/no question meaning Do you know...?, which triggers verb-first word order (Weet u). The question word waarom does not start the main question here; instead, it acts as a conjunction connecting the main clause to the subordinate clause.
If I wanted to use the informal jij instead of the formal u, would the verb Weet drop its -t ending?