Breakdown of Niemand begreep waarom het ziekenhuis ten gevolge van de uitbraak was gesloten.
zijn
to be
begrijpen
to understand
waarom
why
sluiten
to close
niemand
no one
het ziekenhuis
the hospital
ten gevolge van
as a result of
de uitbraak
the outbreak
Questions & Answers about Niemand begreep waarom het ziekenhuis ten gevolge van de uitbraak was gesloten.
How do we use ten gevolge van here, and would I say this in everyday conversation?
Ten gevolge van means "as a result of" or "due to". It is a formal preposition, mostly used in news reports, official documents, or formal writing. In a casual conversation, a Dutch speaker would likely just use door and say door de uitbraak (because of the outbreak).
Why does ten gevolge have those extra letters (-n on ten and -e on gevolge)?
This phrase is a fossil from the old Dutch case system. Ten is a very old contraction of te den (to the), and the -e on gevolge is an old dative case ending. You do not need to learn the old grammar rules; just memorize formal expressions like ten gevolge van as fixed phrases.
Why are the verbs was gesloten pushed all the way to the end of the sentence?
The word waarom (why) introduces a subordinate clause, which forces all verbs to the end of that clause. Because ten gevolge van de uitbraak is a prepositional phrase providing extra context, it must be placed before the final verb block was gesloten.
Why does was gesloten translate to "had been closed" rather than just "was closed"?
This is the past perfect in the passive voice. In English, we use "had been" to form this. In Dutch, the perfect passive tenses use the auxiliary verb zijn (to be) instead of hebben (to have). The present perfect passive is is gesloten (has been closed), so the past perfect becomes was gesloten (had been closed). The Dutch equivalent of "been" (geworden) is simply dropped in these constructions.
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