Word
Het succes is te danken aan de deskundigheid en de efficiëntie van het team.
Meaning
The success is thanks to the expertise and the efficiency of the team.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Het succes is te danken aan de deskundigheid en de efficiëntie van het team.
zijn
to be
en
and
het team
the team
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
Questions & Answers about Het succes is te danken aan de deskundigheid en de efficiëntie van het team.
Why do we use te danken aan here instead of te wijten aan?
We use te danken aan because het succes (the success) is a positive outcome. This phrase is used to attribute a positive cause, much like "is thanks to" in English. If the sentence were about a failure or negative outcome, you would use te wijten aan (to be blamed on / due to) instead.
What is the literal structure of the phrase is te danken aan?
It translates literally to "is to thank to". In Dutch, the zijn te + infinitive construction often expresses a passive state of possibility (similar to "can be done"). Here, it acts as a fixed phrase meaning the success "can be credited to" the team's qualities.
How is the noun deskundigheid built?
It is built from the adjective deskundig (knowledgeable or expert) plus the suffix -heid. The suffix -heid works just like "-ness" or "-ity" in English, turning adjectives into abstract nouns.
Why does the sentence use van het team rather than forming a compound noun?
While Dutch loves gluing words together into long compound nouns, it doesn't work well when you have two separate abstract traits linked by en (de deskundigheid en de efficiëntie). Using van het team (of the team) cleanly and naturally assigns both of those traits to the team without creating a confusing, overly long word.