Breakdown of Ze zoeken het kind wiens wettige erfenis zomaar is verdwenen.
zijn
to be
het kind
the child
zoeken
to look for
het
it
verdwijnen
to disappear
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
zomaar
just like that
wiens
whose (masculine/neuter)
wettig
legitimate / lawful
de erfenis
the inheritance / the legacy
Questions & Answers about Ze zoeken het kind wiens wettige erfenis zomaar is verdwenen.
Why is wiens used here instead of wier?
Wiens is the formal relative pronoun for "whose" when referring back to masculine and neuter nouns. Because the antecedent is het kind (a neuter noun), we use wiens. If the noun were feminine or plural, highly formal text would use wier.
Is wiens common in everyday spoken Dutch?
Not really. Wiens (and especially wier) is mostly found in formal writing. In normal conversation, a Dutch speaker would almost always use van wie (of whom) and say: Ze zoeken het kind van wie de wettige erfenis zomaar is verdwenen.
Why does wettige get an -e ending here?
Adjectives get an -e ending when they come before a de-word, and erfenis is a de-word (de erfenis). The presence of a possessive word like wiens doesn't change this rule; it acts just like a definite article here.
Why does the sentence use is verdwenen instead of heeft verdwenen?
The verb verdwijnen (to disappear) describes a change of state. Verbs that indicate a clear change of state or direction of motion use zijn rather than hebben to form the present perfect tense.
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