Word
De gemeente wil het onmogelijke realiseren.
Meaning
The municipality wants to realize the impossible.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De gemeente wil het onmogelijke realiseren.
willen
to want
de gemeente
the municipality
onmogelijk
impossible
realiseren
to realize (to accomplish, make real)
Questions & Answers about De gemeente wil het onmogelijke realiseren.
Why is onmogelijke treated like a noun here, and why does it get an -e at the end?
In Dutch, you can turn an adjective into a noun to talk about an abstract concept by putting het in front of it and adding an -e to the end. So, het onmogelijke means the impossible concept or thing. This is a very common pattern for abstract ideas, just like het goede (the good) or het onbekende (the unknown).
Since De gemeente is a third-person singular subject, shouldn't the verb be wilt instead of wil?
The verb willen (to want) is slightly irregular in the present tense. For the third-person singular (he, she, it, or a singular noun like de gemeente), the standard form is wil, without a -t. You generally only use wilt for the polite you form (u wilt) or the informal you form (jij wilt).
Does realiseren mean the same thing as the English word realize?
It can, but you have to be careful! In this non-reflexive sentence, realiseren means to make something real or to achieve it. Dutch also uses it reflexively as zich realiseren to mean to become aware of something (like realizing a mistake). Because there is no reflexive pronoun here, the municipality is actively achieving something, not just having a sudden thought.
How would I add enerzijds to this sentence to introduce a contrast for a follow-up clause?