Word
Ik zie de sleutels niet op het dashboard liggen.
Meaning
I do not see the keys lying on the dashboard.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Ik zie de sleutels niet op het dashboard liggen.
Why is the infinitive liggen at the very end of the sentence?
Verbs of perception like zien (to see) and horen (to hear) act a lot like modal verbs when combined with another verb. The conjugated verb (zie) takes the second position, and the second verb (liggen) is pushed to the very end of the clause as a bare infinitive, meaning it does not use the word te.
Why does Dutch use the infinitive liggen instead of a present participle like liggend to match the English 'lying'?
When describing an action you are actively perceiving, Dutch requires the infinitive rather than a present participle. Just as English can say 'I saw him run', Dutch uses the infinitive for both 'run' and 'running' after a perception verb. Using liggend here would sound unnatural.
Why is niet placed after de sleutels rather than directly after the verb zie?
The word niet generally comes after a specific direct object, which in this case is de sleutels (identified as specific by the definite article de). It also goes right before the prepositional phrase op het dashboard because it is negating that specific location, rather than focusing the negation on the keys themselves.
Could I leave out liggen entirely and just say Ik zie de sleutels niet op het dashboard?