Breakdown of Alles in aanmerking nemende, lijkt het staakt-het-vuren onmogelijk.
in
in
nemen
to take (general, abstract, e.g., transport, medicine)
alles
everything
onmogelijk
impossible
lijken
to seem
de aanmerking
the consideration
het staakt-het-vuren
the ceasefire
Questions & Answers about Alles in aanmerking nemende, lijkt het staakt-het-vuren onmogelijk.
Why does nemende have an -e at the end here?
In formal fixed expressions like alles in aanmerking nemende, the present participle (nemend) gets an -e ending. While regular present participles used as adverbs usually do not get this -e, these absolute constructions are remnants of older Dutch grammar and survive as set rhetorical phrases.
Why is the main verb lijkt placed immediately after the comma?
This is the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire participial phrase Alles in aanmerking nemende occupies the first position in the sentence. Because the verb must come second, lijkt immediately follows the phrase, placing it before the subject het staakt-het-vuren.
Is in aanmerking nemen only used in these formal introductory phrases?
No, it is a common expression in everyday Dutch meaning 'to take into consideration' or 'to take into account'. For example, you could say Je moet zijn leeftijd in aanmerking nemen (You must take his age into consideration).
What kind of word is staakt-het-vuren? It looks like a whole sentence.
It translates literally to 'cease the fire' and is built like a command, similar to the French 'cessez-le-feu'. In Dutch, this entire phrase is treated as a single compound noun, and it gets the neuter article het.
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