Questions & Answers about Wij zijn naar het vliegveld gereisd.
Why does this sentence use zijn instead of hebben to say we have travelled?
In Dutch, verbs that describe a change of location or a movement from one place to another use zijn as their helping verb instead of hebben. Because we are moving toward a specific destination (naar het vliegveld), we must use zijn.
Why is the word gereisd at the very end of the sentence?
This is a strict rule for Dutch word order. When you use the present perfect tense, the helping verb (zijn) takes the second position in the sentence, and the past participle (gereisd) is pushed all the way to the end.
Why does the past participle gereisd end with a d instead of a t?
The dictionary form of the verb is reizen (to travel). If you remove the -en ending, you get the stem reiz-. Because this stem ends in the letter z, which is a voiced sound, the past participle gets a d at the end instead of a t.
How can I remember the word vliegveld?
It is a compound word! It combines vlieg (from vliegen, meaning to fly) and veld (meaning field). Literally translating to fly field, it is the standard Dutch word for airport.
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