Breakdown of Ik zie in het rapport waarom de mislukking te wijten is aan zijn nalatigheid.
ik
I
zien
to see
in
in
zijn
his
waarom
why
te
to (infinitive marker)
het rapport
report card / the report (document)
wijten aan
to blame on
de mislukking
the failure
de nalatigheid
the negligence
Questions & Answers about Ik zie in het rapport waarom de mislukking te wijten is aan zijn nalatigheid.
Why use te wijten aan here instead of te danken aan?
The phrase te wijten aan means "due to" or "to be blamed on" and is exclusively used for negative outcomes. Since de mislukking (the failure) is a negative event caused by nalatigheid (negligence), this is the correct choice. If it were a positive outcome like a success, you would use te danken aan (thanks to).
Why doesn't the verb is go at the very end of the subclause?
In a subordinate clause like this one starting with waarom, verbs are usually pushed to the end. However, prepositional phrases like aan zijn nalatigheid can optionally be placed after the verb cluster. Both waarom de mislukking aan zijn nalatigheid te wijten is and waarom de mislukking te wijten is aan zijn nalatigheid are correct, but putting the prepositional phrase at the very end often sounds more natural and keeps the middle of the sentence from getting too cluttered.
Can I use the verb wijten on its own to say I am actively blaming someone?
Technically yes, but it is extremely uncommon in modern Dutch. The verb wijten (to blame) is almost exclusively used in this specific fixed construction: te wijten zijn aan (to be due to / to be blamed on). For active blaming, you would typically use a different verb like beschuldigen or give someone the blame with de schuld geven.
How is the noun mislukking formed?
It comes from the verb mislukken (to fail), which itself is a combination of the prefix mis- (meaning "wrong" or "badly") and the verb lukken (to succeed). The suffix -ing then turns that verb into a noun, similar to how it works in English.
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