Word
De brandweerlieden worden geacht het gebouw te redden.
Meaning
The firefighters are expected to save the building.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De brandweerlieden worden geacht het gebouw te redden.
het gebouw
the building
redden
to save (rescue)
geacht worden te
to be expected to
de brandweerman
the firefighter
Questions & Answers about De brandweerlieden worden geacht het gebouw te redden.
What is the singular of brandweerlieden, and are there other ways to form this plural?
The singular is brandweerman. For professions ending in -man, Dutch often replaces it with -lieden or -lui in the plural. You can use brandweerlieden (which sounds a bit more formal), brandweerlui (more casual), or brandweermannen (also very common). All three correctly mean firefighters.
I learned that achten means to consider or to respect. Why does it mean expected here?
Why is there a te before redden?
The phrase geacht worden is a verb construction that requires te before the infinitive verb that follows it. This is very similar to English, where we say expected TO save rather than just expected save, giving us geacht het gebouw te redden.
Why is the verbal phrase split up, placing het gebouw before te redden?