Waarom heb jij naar de beroemdheid zitten gluren?
Why have you been sitting peeking at the celebrity?
Questions & Answers about Waarom heb jij naar de beroemdheid zitten gluren?
Why are there two infinitives at the end (zitten gluren) instead of a past participle like gezeten?
This is the 'double infinitive' rule, which is the main focus of this lesson. When you use the perfect tense to say someone 'has been sitting doing' something, you do not use the past participle of the posture verb. Instead, Dutch uses the auxiliary verb (hebben) plus two infinitives. So, heb ... zitten gluren is used instead of heb ... gezeten gluren.
Why is the verb heb missing its -t in this sentence?
In Dutch, when the subject pronoun jij or je (you) comes right after the verb, the verb loses its -t ending. Because this is a question starting with the question word Waarom, the verb and subject are inverted. Therefore, the standard jij hebt becomes heb jij.
Why do we use the preposition naar here? Doesn't it usually mean 'to'?
While naar often indicates physical direction ('to'), it is also the fixed preposition used with verbs of seeing and looking. Just like you say kijken naar for 'to look at', you must use gluren naar for 'to peek at' or 'to spy on'.
How is the word beroemdheid (celebrity) formed?
It is built from the adjective beroemd (famous) and the suffix -heid. This suffix works just like the English endings '-ness' or '-ity' to turn an adjective into a noun. While it literally translates to 'famousness', it is the standard Dutch word for a celebrity.