Questions & Answers about Ik was vandaag erg verstrooid.
How would I change this sentence to mean 'I must have been very absent-minded today' to practice this lesson's grammar?
You would say Ik moet vandaag erg verstrooid zijn geweest. To express a strong deduction about the past, you use the present tense modal moet combined with the perfect infinitive zijn geweest (to have been) placed at the end of the sentence.
Is verstrooid related to a verb? It looks like a past participle.
Yes, it is the past participle of verstrooien, which means to scatter or disperse. When applied to a person's mind, it means your thoughts are scattered, which is the exact equivalent of the English concept of being absent-minded.
Why does vandaag come right after the verb, rather than at the end of the sentence like in English?
Dutch strongly prefers to place time elements like vandaag as early as possible in the sentence. In a standard main clause, this means it usually sits immediately after the conjugated verb (was). This follows the general Time-Manner-Place word order rule.
Could I use afgeleid instead of verstrooid to say I wasn't paying attention?
They describe slightly different things. Afgeleid means distracted, implying that some external event or noise pulled your attention away. Verstrooid describes an internal state of being absent-minded, forgetful, or lost in your own thoughts.