Breakdown of De baas is de tap af aan het vegen.
zijn
to be
de baas
the boss
de tap
the tap
afvegen
to wipe down
Questions & Answers about De baas is de tap af aan het vegen.
Why is af separated from vegen and placed before aan het?
This sentence uses the separable verb afvegen (to wipe down). In standard written Dutch, you would keep them together and say aan het afvegen. However, in everyday spoken Dutch, it is extremely common to split the verb and put the separable prefix (af) right before aan het, leaving the root verb (vegen) at the very end.
Which version should I use myself: af aan het vegen or aan het afvegen?
You can use aan het afvegen safely in all situations, as it is the standard, grammatically correct form. You might want to use af aan het vegen when speaking informally to sound more like a native, but you should avoid this colloquial split in formal writing.
Why does the direct object de tap come before af?
Even though we are using an aan het continuous construction, the base word order rules for separable verbs still apply. The direct object (de tap) always comes before the separable prefix (af). You can think of it as building on the simple sentence De baas veegt de tap af, and then adjusting it by adding is and aan het vegen.
Does af change the meaning of vegen here, or does it just mean the wiping is finished?
It changes the meaning of the verb. vegen on its own usually means to sweep, but afvegen means to wipe down or wipe off. Because this is an aan het continuous sentence, the action is currently ongoing, so the wiping is definitely not finished yet!
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