Breakdown of Het is indrukwekkend om honderden vleugels te zien.
zijn
to be
zien
to see
het
it
te
to (infinitive marker)
Questions & Answers about Het is indrukwekkend om honderden vleugels te zien.
In English we say 'hundreds of wings'. Why is there no van in the Dutch sentence?
In Dutch, indefinite numeric expressions like honderden (hundreds), tientallen (dozens/tens), and duizenden (thousands) function directly as quantifiers. They attach straight to the noun they modify, so you just say honderden vleugels without using van (of).
The lesson mentions the -tallen suffix. Could I say honderdtallen vleugels here instead of honderden vleugels?
You could, but honderden is much more common. While tientallen is the required standard way to express 'tens' or 'dozens', for hundreds and thousands the simple plural forms honderden and duizenden are highly preferred over honderdtallen or duizendtallen.
Why is om separated from te zien by honderden vleugels?
This sentence uses the om ... te plus infinitive structure. In Dutch, om introduces the infinitive phrase and directly follows the main clause (Het is indrukwekkend). The object of that phrase (honderden vleugels) must be placed between om and the te plus infinitive verb cluster at the very end.