Word
De baas is zo woedend dat iedereen gespannen is.
Meaning
The boss is so furious that everyone is tense.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De baas is zo woedend dat iedereen gespannen is.
zijn
to be
de baas
the boss
zo
so (to such a degree)
dat
that (conjunction)
Questions & Answers about De baas is zo woedend dat iedereen gespannen is.
Why does the second is appear at the very end of the sentence?
The word dat (that) introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch, subordinate clauses use verb-final word order, which means the conjugated verb (is) gets pushed to the very end of that clause. The structure zo ... dat (so ... that) will always force the verb to the end of the second half of the sentence.
Is woedend just a regular adjective?
It functions as an adjective here, but it is actually the present participle of the verb woeden (to rage). Adding -d or -end to a verb creates a word like an English '-ing' word. So literally, the boss is 'raging', which translates best as 'furious'.
Iedereen refers to multiple people, so why do we use the singular verb is instead of zijn?
Just like the English word 'everyone', the Dutch word iedereen is grammatically singular. Even though it represents a group of people, you must always use a singular verb with it.
Why does gespannen start with ge-? Is it a past tense verb?
It is the past participle of the verb spannen (to stretch or tighten), but here it is being used as an adjective. Just like in English where a 'stretched' string is pulled tight, gespannen is the standard Dutch word for describing a situation or a person that is stressed or tense.