Breakdown of Het buitenaardse voorwerp zou op de radar zijn verschenen.
zijn
to be
op
on
zullen
shall / will
het voorwerp
the item / the object (physical thing)
Questions & Answers about Het buitenaardse voorwerp zou op de radar zijn verschenen.
How does zou mean "supposedly" here instead of "would"?
Using zouden is the standard Dutch way to report hearsay, allegations, or unverified claims. While it literally translates to "would," in this context (evidential modality) it means "is said to," "allegedly," or "supposedly." It distances the speaker from the truth of the statement.
Why do we use zijn here instead of hebben for "have appeared"?
The verb verschijnen (to appear) always uses zijn as its auxiliary verb in perfect tenses, rather than hebben. This is typical for Dutch verbs that describe a change of state or location. So, "to have appeared" translates to zijn verschenen.
Why are both zijn and verschenen pushed to the end of the sentence?
In a Dutch main clause, the conjugated verb (zou) takes the second position. Any other verbs in the sentence are sent to the very end to form a verb cluster. Note that in these clusters, the order is flexible: verschenen zijn would also be perfectly correct here.
Since voorwerp is a neuter (het) word, why does buitenaardse get an -e at the end?