Breakdown of Zou u bereid zijn te helpen? Wij zouden u erg dankbaar zijn.
zijn
to be
u
you (formal)
wij
we
helpen
to help
erg
very / really
zullen
shall / will
te
to (infinitive marker)
bereid
willing
dankbaar
grateful
Questions & Answers about Zou u bereid zijn te helpen? Wij zouden u erg dankbaar zijn.
Why do we use the past tense forms zou and zouden for a present-day request?
This is the tentative simple past. Just like in English, shifting a verb to the past tense makes a request softer and more polite. Using zou instead of zal turns a direct 'Will you' into a much more courteous 'Would you'.
Why is te used before helpen? Doesn't zouden normally take a bare infinitive?
You are right that zouden takes a bare infinitive, and it does so here with zijn. But the phrase bereid zijn (to be willing) requires a te + infinitive structure to explain what you are willing to do. So the te belongs to the adjective bereid, not the auxiliary verb zouden.
In the second sentence, why don't we use a preposition to say 'grateful to you'?
The Dutch expression is iemand dankbaar zijn (literally: to be someone grateful). It takes an indirect object directly, so you don't need a preposition like aan.
What is the grammatical role of u in both sentences?
In the first sentence, u is the subject ('Would you be willing'). In the second sentence, u is the indirect object ('We would be very grateful to you'). The formal pronoun u conveniently looks exactly the same in both roles.
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