Word
De trekvogels waren massaal aan het vertrekken.
Meaning
The migratory birds were leaving en masse.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De trekvogels waren massaal aan het vertrekken.
zijn
to be
vertrekken
to leave / to depart
aan
on / at (attached to, edge)
de trekvogel
the migratory bird
Questions & Answers about De trekvogels waren massaal aan het vertrekken.
This lesson is about aggregate words like tientallen or honderden. How would I use one of those in this sentence?
You could replace the subject De trekvogels with Tientallen trekvogels (Tens of migratory birds) or Honderden trekvogels (Hundreds of migratory birds). Notice that you must drop the definite article De when you do this, because words ending in -tallen act as indefinite quantifiers.
Why is massaal placed in the middle of the verb structure?
This sentence uses the Dutch continuous form (zijn aan het + infinitive). In this structure, adverbs like massaal (en masse / massively) are typically placed between the conjugated verb (waren) and the aan het block. You cannot place it at the very end of the sentence as you might in English.
Can massaal be used to mean 'massive' as an adjective, or does it only mean 'en masse'?
It can be used as both! Here it acts as an adverb meaning 'in large numbers' or 'en masse', but it is also a regular adjective meaning 'massive'. For example, een massale opkomst translates to 'a massive turnout'.
How is the word trekvogels formed?