Breakdown of De door de vakbond georganiseerde staking duurde lang.
duren
to last / to take time
lang
long
organiseren
to organize
door
by (agent in a passive sentence)
Questions & Answers about De door de vakbond georganiseerde staking duurde lang.
How does the extended attributive phrase work in this sentence?
The entire phrase door de vakbond georganiseerde acts as one long adjective describing the noun staking (strike). In Dutch, especially in formal writing, these descriptive phrases are often squeezed between the article (de) and the noun, creating a "sandwich" structure. English instead places this extra information after the noun.
Why does georganiseerde have an -e at the end?
Even though georganiseerd is a past participle, it is being used here as an adjective in front of a noun. Because staking is a de-word, the adjective gets the standard -e ending, just like it would in de grote staking.
Can I phrase this more like English by putting the extra information after the noun?
Yes, but you would normally use a relative clause to do so. Instead of this compressed written structure, you would say De staking die door de vakbond was georganiseerd duurde lang. This is much more common in everyday spoken Dutch.
Why use door for "by" here?
In Dutch, door is used to indicate the agent of a passive action. Since the strike was organized by the trade union, door is the correct preposition to show who performed the action.