Breakdown of De onderhandelaar adviseert de politie om het gebouw te omsingelen en het geweld te beëindigen.
en
and
het gebouw
the building
de politie
the police
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
adviseren
to advise
beëindigen
to end (something)
de onderhandelaar
the negotiator
het geweld
the violence
omsingelen
to surround
Questions & Answers about De onderhandelaar adviseert de politie om het gebouw te omsingelen en het geweld te beëindigen.
How does the object control structure work in this sentence with adviseert?
The verb adviseren takes an object—here, de politie—and an infinitive clause with om ... te. Even though de onderhandelaar is the subject of the main sentence, the object (de politie) acts as the semantic subject of the infinitive clauses. This means the police are the ones who will actually perform the surrounding and ending.
Why is there no om before het geweld te beëindigen?
When you link two om ... te infinitive clauses with en (and), you usually drop the second om to avoid repetition. You still keep the te before the second verb, which is why it is written as en het geweld te beëindigen rather than repeating the om.
Why is it te omsingelen? Shouldn't te go between the prefix and the verb, like om te singelen?
While many verbs with the prefix om- are separable (like omdraaien becoming om te draaien), omsingelen (to surround) is an inseparable verb. Because it cannot be split, the word te is placed directly in front of the entire verb.
Is beëindigen also an inseparable verb?
Yes. Verbs that begin with unstressed prefixes like be-, ge-, ver-, ont-, and er- are always inseparable. Therefore, the te simply goes before the whole word, giving us te beëindigen.
I notice de politie is used here. Does Dutch treat the word for "police" as singular or plural?
In Dutch, de politie is a singular collective noun. While in English we say "the police are," Dutch uses a singular verb for it (e.g., de politie is hier). Even though it is the object rather than the subject in this specific sentence, it is important to remember it functions as a singular entity.
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