Breakdown of Een goede burger zou belasting moeten betalen.
een
a/an
betalen
to pay
goed
good
moeten
to have to, must
zullen
shall / will
de burger
the citizen
de belasting
the tax
Questions & Answers about Een goede burger zou belasting moeten betalen.
Why do we use both zou and moeten to say "should"?
In Dutch, "should" (when expressing advice or moral obligation) is often constructed using the conditional form of zullen (zou or zouden) combined with the infinitive moeten (must / to have to). Literally, this translates to "would have to". Since een goede burger is singular, we use zou.
Why are moeten and betalen stacked at the very end of the sentence?
In a Dutch main clause, the conjugated verb (zou) takes the second position. All other verbs are pushed to the end of the sentence. When you have a modal verb and a main verb at the end like this, the modal verb (moeten) usually comes right before the main action verb (betalen).
Why does goed get an extra -e at the end in een goede burger?
Adjectives generally get an -e ending when they come before a noun. The main exception is for singular het-words preceded by een or no article. Because burger is a de-word (de burger), the adjective follows the standard rule and gets the -e ending: een goede burger.
Could I say belastingen (plural) instead of belasting?
Yes, both are correct. You can use the singular belasting or the plural belastingen when talking about paying taxes in general. However, belasting betalen is used as a very common set phrase, which is why the singular is used here.
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