Breakdown of Wij krijgen de maximumsnelheid hier verlaagd.
hier
here
wij
we
krijgen
to get (receive)
de maximumsnelheid
the speed limit
verlagen
to reduce
Questions & Answers about Wij krijgen de maximumsnelheid hier verlaagd.
Why do we use krijgen here instead of worden?
In this sentence, krijgen combined with the past participle verlaagd forms the benefactive passive. This is very similar to the English structure "to get something done." It shows that an action is being performed for the benefit of the subject (wij), whereas using worden (the standard passive) would require the speed limit to be the grammatical subject of the sentence.
Does this sentence mean we are lowering the speed limit ourselves?
No. Just like in English, "getting the speed limit lowered" means someone else (like the government or municipality) is doing the actual work. The krijgen structure emphasizes that we are the receivers or beneficiaries of the change.
Why is verlaagd at the very end of the sentence?
When you use the krijgen + past participle construction, it follows the same word order rules as the perfect tense. The conjugated verb (krijgen) takes the second position in the sentence, and the past participle (verlaagd) is pushed to the very end of the clause.
Why doesn't the past participle verlaagd have a ge- prefix?
The verb is verlagen (to lower). Because it starts with the inseparable prefix ver-, it does not take the standard ge- prefix in its past participle form. You simply take the stem and add a -d at the end.
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