Breakdown of Daarom kregen wij gisteren een boete thuisgestuurd.
een
a/an
wij
we
gisteren
yesterday
krijgen
to get (receive)
daarom
therefore
de boete
the fine
thuissturen
to send home
Questions & Answers about Daarom kregen wij gisteren een boete thuisgestuurd.
How does the passive with krijgen work in this sentence?
In this sentence, kregen ... thuisgestuurd (got ... sent home) forms what is called a benefactive passive. We use krijgen (to get) plus a past participle (thuisgestuurd) to show that the subject (wij) is the receiver of the action, rather than the one doing the action. The entity that actually sent the fine (like the police) isn't mentioned.
Why is the verb kregen placed before the subject wij?
Because the sentence starts with the adverb Daarom (That is why). In standard Dutch main clauses, the conjugated verb must take the second position. When you start a sentence with anything other than the subject, the subject and verb have to swap places (this is called inversion). So, it becomes Daarom kregen wij instead of Wij kregen daarom.
Why is thuisgestuurd placed at the very end of the sentence?
This happens because of the classic Dutch sentence bracket. In a main clause that uses a conjugated verb and a past participle, the conjugated verb (kregen) stays in the second position, while the past participle (thuisgestuurd) gets pushed all the way to the end of the clause.
Why is thuisgestuurd written as a single word?
It is the past participle of the separable verb thuissturen (to send home). When making a past participle out of a separable verb, the ge- is squeezed right between the prefix (thuis) and the verb stem (stuurd). The entire combination is then written together as one word: thuisgestuurd.
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