De commissie moet de te delegeren taken herzien.
The committee must revise the tasks to be delegated.
Breakdown of De commissie moet de te delegeren taken herzien.
moeten
to have to, must
de taak
the task
te
to (infinitive marker)
de commissie
the committee
herzien
to revise
delegeren
to delegate
Questions & Answers about De commissie moet de te delegeren taken herzien.
How does te delegeren translate to a passive phrase like "to be delegated"?
In Dutch, placing te plus an infinitive directly before a noun creates an "attributive modal infinitive". It acts exactly like an adjective that expresses a passive obligation or possibility. Therefore, de te delegeren taken translates to "the to-be-delegated tasks" or "the tasks that must be delegated".
How would you say this sentence without using the te + infinitive structure?
You would use a relative clause with a passive construction: De commissie moet de taken herzien die gedelegeerd moeten worden (The committee must revise the tasks that must be delegated). The te + infinitive structure used in this sentence is simply a more concise, slightly more formal way to express the exact same idea.
Why does the main verb herzien come after the long noun phrase de te delegeren taken?
This is due to standard Dutch word order. The conjugated modal verb moet takes the second position in the sentence, which forces the main verb (herzien) to the very end of the clause. The entire phrase de te delegeren taken acts as the direct object, so it sits comfortably in the middle.
Is herzien a separable verb?
No, verbs that start with the prefix her- (meaning "re-", as in re-vise or re-do) are almost always inseparable. This means if you used it as the main conjugated verb, it would stay together (De commissie herziet de taken), and it does not take a ge- prefix in the past participle (heeft herzien).
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