Word
De door de rechter veroordeelde dief moet een boete betalen.
Meaning
The thief convicted by the judge must pay a fine.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De door de rechter veroordeelde dief moet een boete betalen.
een
a/an
betalen
to pay
moeten
to have to, must
de dief
the thief
Questions & Answers about De door de rechter veroordeelde dief moet een boete betalen.
Why is door de rechter placed between De and veroordeelde dief?
This is the extended attributive participial phrase (often called the 'accordion' structure). In English, you put this extra information after the noun. In formal Dutch, all this information gets squeezed between the article (De) and the noun (dief). The past participle (veroordeelde) acts as an adjective right before the noun, and everything that modifies it (door de rechter) is placed directly in front of that participle.
Why is it veroordeelde with an extra -e at the end, rather than just the past participle veroordeeld?
Because the participle is acting as an adjective modifying a noun. The normal past participle is veroordeeld. However, when used attributively (in front of a noun), it follows the standard Dutch adjective ending rules. Since dief is a de-word and is preceded by the definite article De, the adjective takes an -e ending.
The word veroordeelde is also the simple past tense of veroordelen. How can I tell it's a participle here?