Breakdown of Het is belangrijk om te bewijzen dat dit manuscript authentiek is.
zijn
to be
dit
this (neuter)
het
it
belangrijk
important
dat
that (conjunction)
bewijzen
to prove
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
het manuscript
the manuscript
authentiek
authentic
Questions & Answers about Het is belangrijk om te bewijzen dat dit manuscript authentiek is.
The current lesson covers the word dergelijk(e) (such). How would I change this sentence to say 'such a manuscript' instead of 'this manuscript'?
You would replace dit manuscript with een dergelijk manuscript. Because manuscript is a neuter het word and follows the indefinite article een, the categorical demonstrative dergelijk does not get an -e ending. The clause becomes ...dat een dergelijk manuscript authentiek is.
Why do we use om te before bewijzen? Can I leave om out?
After structures like het is + [adjective] (such as belangrijk, moeilijk, leuk), Dutch naturally uses an om te + infinitive construction. You can technically omit om and just say te bewijzen, but this sounds very formal in this context. Including om is the standard, natural choice.
Why does authentiek not have an -e at the end?
Adjectives only get an -e ending when they come directly before the noun they modify (attributive use). In this sentence, authentiek comes after the noun and the linking verb is (predicative use). Predicate adjectives never get an -e ending in Dutch.
Just to refresh, why do we use dit instead of deze for 'this'?
Manuscript is a neuter noun (a het word). Demonstrative pronouns must match the gender of the noun they point to, so 'this' translates to dit for het words and deze for de words.
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