Breakdown of Het zware meubel is zonder de buurman niet te tillen.
zijn
to be
niet
not
het
it
zwaar
heavy / severe (of a punishment) / tough, hard
de buurman
the neighbor (male)
het meubel
the piece of furniture
te
to (infinitive marker)
zonder
without
tillen
to lift
Questions & Answers about Het zware meubel is zonder de buurman niet te tillen.
Why use is ... te tillen instead of a word for "can" or "impossible"?
The structure zijn + te + infinitive is a common Dutch way to say that something can or cannot be done. Is niet te tillen translates literally as "is not to lift," but it means the object is "unliftable" or "impossible to lift."
How does tillen (to lift) relate to posture verbs like zetten and leggen?
Tillen is a transitive verb, meaning it describes an action you do to an object. This makes it a cousin to leggen (to lay something down) and zetten (to stand something upright). You would tillen this heavy piece of furniture before you zetten it in its new spot!
Why does zwaar (heavy) change spelling to become zware?
Meubel is a het-word. Because it is preceded by the definite article het, the adjective gets an -e ending. When that -e is added, the syllable becomes "open," so we drop one "a" to keep the same long vowel sound (zwaar -> zware).
Why is niet placed right before te tillen rather than earlier in the sentence?
In Dutch word order, niet generally moves toward the end of the sentence but must stay before any verbal parts or prepositional phrases it directly negates. Since it is negating the action te tillen, it goes right in front of it.
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