Breakdown of Wij zouden zwakke mensen moeten verdedigen.
wij
we
de mens
the human / the person
moeten
to have to, must
zullen
shall / will
zwak
weak
verdedigen
to defend
Questions & Answers about Wij zouden zwakke mensen moeten verdedigen.
Why do we use both zouden and moeten here to just say "should"?
In Dutch, expressing strong advice or a moral obligation is usually done by combining zouden (meaning "would") and moeten ("must"). Literally, it translates to "would have to". Together, zouden moeten is the most natural equivalent to the English "should" or "ought to".
Why are both moeten and verdedigen pushed all the way to the end of the sentence?
This follows the standard Dutch sentence structure. The conjugated verb (zouden) takes the second position in a main clause. Any other verbs—in this case, the modal verb moeten and the main verb verdedigen—are gathered together in a "verb cluster" at the very end.
Why does the adjective zwakke get an -e ending here?
Adjectives almost always get an -e added to them when they come before a plural noun. Because mensen (people) is plural, the base adjective zwak (weak) becomes zwakke.
If the base word is zwak, why is there a double 'k' in zwakke?
This is to preserve the short vowel sound. Zwak has a short 'a' sound. If you just added an -e to make zwake, Dutch spelling rules would make the 'a' sound long (like in "father"). By doubling the consonant to zwakke, the 'a' stays short.
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