Breakdown of Mijn oom zegt dat hij nooit bijgelovig is geweest.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
zeggen
to say
mijn
my
nooit
never
de oom
the uncle
dat
that (conjunction)
bijgelovig
superstitious
Questions & Answers about Mijn oom zegt dat hij nooit bijgelovig is geweest.
In the subordinate clause, the verbs are is geweest. Can I reverse them to geweest is?
Yes, you can! Because this is a subordinate clause starting with dat, the verbs go at the end. When you have an auxiliary verb (is) and a past participle (geweest), Dutch allows two word orders: is geweest (red word order) or geweest is (green word order). Both are perfectly correct and common.
The English translation says 'has never been', but the Dutch uses is geweest. Why is it is instead of heeft?
In Dutch, the verb zijn (to be) uses zijn as its auxiliary verb to form the present perfect tense, not hebben (to have). So instead of saying 'he has been' (which would incorrectly be hij heeft geweest), you literally say 'he is been' (hij is geweest).
How is the word bijgelovig formed?
It comes from the noun bijgeloof (superstition), which is a combination of bij (extra/by) and geloof (belief). Adding the suffix -ig turns the noun into the adjective bijgelovig (superstitious).
Why is nooit placed right after hij?
In a subordinate clause, the verbs are pushed to the very end of the sentence. Adverbs of time like nooit (never) naturally fall into the 'middle field' of the sentence, usually coming after the subject (hij) and before the specific information they apply to, which in this case is the adjective bijgelovig.
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