Breakdown of Hij is bezig met het werk, maar hij raakt overwerkt en overweldigd.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
en
and
maar
but
het werk
the work
met
with
raken
to get / to become (state change)
overwerkt
overworked
overweldigd
overwhelmed
bezig zijn met
to be busy with
Questions & Answers about Hij is bezig met het werk, maar hij raakt overwerkt en overweldigd.
Why do we use raakt here instead of wordt to mean "gets"?
While both can translate to "gets" or "becomes", raken combined with a past participle emphasizes entering a state of being, usually an emotional, mental, or physical condition. If you used wordt here, it would sound more like a standard passive action ("he is being overworked by someone"). Raakt perfectly captures the internal process of him becoming overwhelmed.
Is this sentence in the passive voice because it uses raakt with past participles?
Not exactly. While it looks similar to a passive construction, raken here acts as a linking verb (like "to get" or "to become" in English). It links the subject (hij) to adjectives (overwerkt, overweldigd) that describe his new condition, rather than focusing on an action being done to him.
Why don't the past participles overwerkt and overweldigd get a ge- prefix?
Verbs that start with an inseparable prefix, like over- in overwerken and overweldigen, do not get the ge- prefix in their past participle form. They simply end in -t or -d according to the standard conjugation rules.
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