Breakdown of De baas heeft twee klachten tegelijk af te handelen.
hebben
to have
twee
two
de baas
the boss
te
to (infinitive marker)
de klacht
the complaint
afhandelen
to handle / to deal with
tegelijk
at the same time
Questions & Answers about De baas heeft twee klachten tegelijk af te handelen.
How does the heeft ... te structure work in this sentence?
The combination of hebben (here as heeft) plus te and an infinitive expresses an obligation or a task that needs doing. It literally means the boss possesses complaints "to deal with". It is a great way to talk about chores, tasks, or duties that are on someone's plate.
Why is the word te placed right in the middle of afhandelen?
The verb for dealing with something is afhandelen, which is a separable verb made of the prefix af and the base verb handelen. When you use a separable verb with te, the te squeezes right between the prefix and the base verb, forming a single word: af te handelen.
Could I just use the verb moeten to say the boss "has to" do this?
Why does af te handelen go at the very end of the sentence?
In Dutch, the main conjugated verb (heeft) takes the second position in the sentence, but any other verbs are pushed to the end of the clause. Therefore, the object (twee klachten) and the adverb (tegelijk) must come before the infinitive verb block (af te handelen).
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