Breakdown of Was de mislukking van het project te wijten aan het toeval?
zijn
to be
het project
the project
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
te
to (infinitive marker)
Questions & Answers about Was de mislukking van het project te wijten aan het toeval?
Why is te wijten aan used in this sentence instead of te danken aan?
Because the outcome is negative (de mislukking means "the failure"). You use the structure zijn te wijten aan to say a negative event is "due to" or "to be blamed on" something. If the project had been a success, you would use zijn te danken aan ("thanks to" or "owed to").
How does the grammar of te wijten aan work here?
This is a linking phrase that acts almost like an adjective describing the subject (de mislukking). It combines the verb zijn (here at the start of the yes/no question as Was) + te + the infinitive wijten + the fixed preposition aan. It translates literally as "was to blame to".
Can I use the verb wijten as a normal active verb, rather than in this zijn te ... aan structure?
Yes, you can use the active verb phrase iets wijten aan (to blame something on). For example, you could say Hij wijt de mislukking aan het toeval (He blames the failure on coincidence). The structure in our sentence just makes it impersonal, focusing on the failure itself.
Why does Dutch use het toeval with the article, when the English translation just says "due to coincidence"?