Breakdown of Na de bus geen voorrang te hebben gegeven, is hij gezakt.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
hebben
to have
geen
no / not any
Questions & Answers about Na de bus geen voorrang te hebben gegeven, is hij gezakt.
How do you build the 'After not giving...' part in this sentence?
This uses the na ... te hebben + past participle structure being taught in this lesson, which means 'after having [done something]'. The core action is voorrang geven (to give right of way). To build the clause, we put Na at the start, the objects in the middle, and te hebben gegeven at the end.
English says 'right of way to the bus'. Why is there no aan (to) in the Dutch sentence?
In Dutch, when the indirect object (de bus) is placed directly before the direct object (geen voorrang), the preposition aan can be dropped. You could say geen voorrang aan de bus te hebben gegeven, but leaving aan out like this is a very natural and common shortcut.
Why does the sentence use geen instead of niet for 'not giving'?
We are actually negating the noun voorrang (right of way), rather than the verb itself. In Dutch, when you negate a noun that doesn't have a definite article like de or het, you use geen (meaning 'no'). Literally, the sentence says 'after having given no right of way'.
Why does the second part say is hij gezakt instead of hij is gezakt?