Word
Hard roepend vliegen tienduizenden vogels in formatie.
Meaning
Calling loudly, tens of thousands of birds fly in formation.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hard roepend vliegen tienduizenden vogels in formatie.
in
in
hard
loud / fast (forceful) / hard (with effort)
de vogel
the bird
roepen
to call (shout)
Questions & Answers about Hard roepend vliegen tienduizenden vogels in formatie.
The current lesson mentions the suffix -tallen for indefinite amounts. Why does this sentence use tienduizenden instead of tienduizendtallen?
For smaller base numbers, Dutch uses the suffix -tallen (like tientallen or twintigtallen) to mean 'tens of' or 'twenties of'. However, for hundreds and thousands, the standard plural forms honderden and duizenden are used directly as aggregate nouns. Therefore, 'tens of thousands' translates to tienduizenden, avoiding the -tallen suffix entirely.
Why is the verb vliegen placed before the subject tienduizenden vogels?
The sentence begins with the descriptive phrase Hard roepend (Calling loudly). Because this entire phrase occupies the first grammatical position in the sentence, the main verb vliegen must take the second position to satisfy the strict Dutch V2 (verb-second) rule. This naturally pushes the subject tienduizenden vogels into the third position.
How is the word roepend formed and used here?
Roepend is the present participle of roepen (to call or shout), formed simply by adding -d to the full infinitive. It functions here as an adverbial phrase describing an ongoing action happening simultaneously with the main verb, translating smoothly to 'Calling' or 'While calling'.
Why use hard instead of luid to mean 'loudly'?