Breakdown of Iedereen spreekt over de tijdens de crisis veroorzaakte schade.
over
about
de schade
the damage
tijdens
during
spreken
to speak (a language) / to speak (give a statement / speak for someone)
iedereen
everyone
veroorzaken
to cause
de crisis
the crisis
Questions & Answers about Iedereen spreekt over de tijdens de crisis veroorzaakte schade.
Why is the phrase tijdens de crisis veroorzaakte sandwiched between de and schade?
This is the "trek harmonica" (accordion effect) taught in this lesson. Dutch allows you to pack a past participle (veroorzaakte) and its descriptive details (tijdens de crisis) directly between the article and the noun. The whole phrase acts like one giant adjective, literally translating to "the during the crisis caused damage."
How else could I phrase this if I want to avoid the "accordion" structure?
You can use a relative clause, which feels much more natural to English speakers: Iedereen spreekt over de schade die tijdens de crisis is veroorzaakt. The accordion structure in our current sentence is simply a more compact, written-style alternative to express the exact same thing.
Why does veroorzaakte get an -e ending here?
In this sentence, the past participle veroorzaakt (caused) functions as an adjective describing schade. Because schade is a de-word and is preceded by the definite article de, the adjective takes the standard -e ending.
Is the word order strictly fixed inside this sandwiched phrase?
Yes. The participle must sit immediately before the noun it modifies, so veroorzaakte is placed right next to schade. Any extra information attached to that participle, such as tijdens de crisis, must come before the participle. You cannot mix them up and say de veroorzaakte tijdens de crisis schade.
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