Breakdown of Tijdens het verhoor was de verdachte erg zenuwachtig.
zijn
to be
erg
very / really
tijdens
during
zenuwachtig
nervous
de verdachte
the suspect
het verhoor
the interrogation
Questions & Answers about Tijdens het verhoor was de verdachte erg zenuwachtig.
Why is verdachte used as a noun here, and where does it come from?
Verdachte comes from the past participle of the verb verdenken (to suspect). By taking the adjective verdacht (suspected) and adding an -e, it turns into a noun meaning "the suspected person" or "the suspect". Turning adjectives into nouns this way is a very common pattern in Dutch.
Why is the verb was placed before the subject de verdachte?
Because Dutch main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) rule. The sentence starts with the prepositional phrase Tijdens het verhoor (During the interrogation), which takes up the first position. The verb was must come second, so the subject de verdachte is pushed to the third position. This is known as inversion.
Is the noun het verhoor related to a verb?
Yes, it comes from the verb verhoren (to interrogate or to question). Dutch often creates nouns directly from the verb stem without adding a suffix. These verb-stem nouns are almost always het words, like het verhoor (the interrogation) or het bewijs (the proof, from bewijzen).
Could I use heel instead of erg to mean "very"?
Yes, heel zenuwachtig and erg zenuwachtig mean exactly the same thing. While erg is often preferred when describing something slightly negative, intense, or uncomfortable (like being nervous or in pain), both words are completely interchangeable in this context.
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