Word
Wij hebben tijdens de vergadering niets productiefs gezien.
Meaning
We saw nothing productive during the meeting.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Wij hebben tijdens de vergadering niets productiefs gezien.
wij
we
hebben
to have
zien
to see
de vergadering
the meeting
Questions & Answers about Wij hebben tijdens de vergadering niets productiefs gezien.
Why is there an -s at the end of productiefs?
When an adjective follows indefinite words like iets (something), niets (nothing), wat (some/something), veel (much), or weinig (little), it gets an -s added to it. This is a type of nominalization that turns the adjective into a noun-like concept. So, "nothing productive" is translated as niets productiefs.
Could we use a noun ending in -iteit here instead of niets productiefs?
Yes! Since this lesson focuses on turning qualities into nouns, you could use the noun form of productief, which is productiviteit (productivity). The sentence would then be: Wij hebben tijdens de vergadering geen productiviteit gezien. Notice that you must switch from niets (nothing) to geen (no) when you use a regular noun.
Why doesn't the f in productiefs change to a v?
The base adjective is productief. In Dutch spelling, an f at the end of a word changes to a v only when it moves to the start of a new syllable before a vowel (like in the inflected form productieve or the noun productiviteit). Because we are just adding an -s (a voiceless consonant), the f stays an f.
Why does tijdens de vergadering come before the object niets productiefs?