Breakdown of Aangezien het bewijs ontbreekt, dient de jury hem onschuldig te verklaren.
hem
him
te
to (infinitive marker)
het bewijs
the evidence
ontbreken
to be missing
aangezien
since / as (because)
de jury
the jury
dienen
to be obliged to
onschuldig
innocent
verklaren
to declare (state officially / explain)
Questions & Answers about Aangezien het bewijs ontbreekt, dient de jury hem onschuldig te verklaren.
How does dienen te work here, and how does it compare to moeten?
Dienen te followed by an infinitive is a formal way to express an obligation, similar to 'to be obliged to' or 'ought to'. While you could use moet here, dient fits the formal, legal context of a jury. Note that unlike moeten, dienen always requires the word te before the infinitive at the end of the sentence (te verklaren).
Why is the word order dient de jury rather than de jury dient?
This is the classic V2 (verb-second) rule in action. The entire introductory clause Aangezien het bewijs ontbreekt counts as the first piece of information. The main clause must immediately follow it with the conjugated verb in the second position (dient), pushing the subject (de jury) into the third position.
Could I just use omdat instead of aangezien here?
Yes, you could use omdat (because), and the word order would stay exactly the same since both are subordinating conjunctions. However, aangezien (since / seeing as) sounds slightly more formal, which pairs perfectly with the formal tone of dienen te.
The verb is ontbreken (to lack / be missing). Why doesn't it split in this sentence?
Ontbreken is an inseparable verb. You can tell because it starts with the prefix ont-. Verbs starting with unstressed prefixes like be-, ge-, ver-, and ont- never split, so it stays intact as ontbreekt at the end of the subordinate clause.
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