Breakdown of Dit is het allerzwaarste zoogdier waarvan we de botten hebben gevonden.
zijn
to be
hebben
to have
vinden
to find
dit
this (neuter)
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
het bot
the bone
waarvan
whose / of which
allerzwaarst
very heaviest
het zoogdier
the mammal
Questions & Answers about Dit is het allerzwaarste zoogdier waarvan we de botten hebben gevonden.
How does the prefix aller- change the meaning of zwaarste here?
The word zwaarste is the superlative of zwaar (heavy), meaning "heaviest". Adding the prefix aller- amplifies it to mean "the very heaviest" or "the heaviest of all". You can attach aller- to almost any superlative in Dutch for this extra emphasis.
Why do we use het instead of de before allerzwaarste?
The article must match the noun the adjective describes. Because zoogdier (mammal) is a het-word, the definite article is het. The adjective allerzwaarste still takes the standard -e ending because it comes directly between a definite article and the noun.
Why is "of which" translated as waarvan instead of van welk?
In Dutch, when a preposition like van (of) is followed by a pronoun referring to a thing or animal, they merge into a pronominal adverb starting with waar- (where). So, van + "which" becomes waarvan.
Why are the verbs hebben gevonden placed at the very end of the sentence?
The phrase waarvan we de botten hebben gevonden is a relative clause. Relative clauses use subordinate word order, meaning all verbs are pushed to the end of the clause. You could also swap the verbs and say gevonden hebben, as both orders are perfectly correct here.
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