Breakdown of We hebben het eerste document door te nemen.
hebben
to have
eerste
first (1st)
het document
the document
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
te
to (infinitive marker)
doornemen
to go through
Questions & Answers about We hebben het eerste document door te nemen.
How does the hebben + te + infinitive structure work in this sentence?
This structure expresses an active task or an obligation. Just like in English when you say 'We have a document to read', using hebben (to have) along with te and an infinitive verb shows that going through this document is a task assigned to you.
Why is te placed right in the middle of door and nemen?
The verb being used is doornemen (to go through), which is a separable verb. Whenever you need to put te before a separable verb, it gets sandwiched exactly between the prefix (door) and the base verb (nemen), written as three separate words: door te nemen.
Could I just use moeten instead of hebben te here?
Why does eerste end with an -e?
Eerste (first) is an ordinal number acting as an adjective for the noun document. Because document is preceded by the definite article het, the adjective must take the standard -e ending, making it het eerste document.
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