Breakdown of We zagen de monteur het zonnepaneel op het dak installeren.
zien
to see
op
on
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
het dak
the roof
installeren
to install (e.g. software, equipment)
de monteur
the mechanic
het zonnepaneel
solar panel
Questions & Answers about We zagen de monteur het zonnepaneel op het dak installeren.
Why is there no te before installeren?
Verbs of perception like zien (to see), horen (to hear), and voelen (to feel) act a lot like modal verbs in Dutch. When you see or hear someone do something, you use the bare infinitive without te. The infinitive (installeren) simply gets pushed to the end of the sentence.
We have two nouns back-to-back: de monteur and het zonnepaneel. How do we know who is installing what?
In this construction, the logical "doer" of the second verb (de monteur) comes immediately after the main verb (zagen), followed by the direct object receiving the action (het zonnepaneel). If you swapped them to We zagen het zonnepaneel de monteur installeren, it would grammatically mean the solar panel was installing the mechanic!
Why does op het dak come before installeren rather than after it?
Because of the Dutch "verbal bracket" (or tangconstructie). The conjugated verb (zagen) sits in the second position, and the infinitive (installeren) gets pushed to the very end of the clause. All other information, including prepositional phrases indicating location like op het dak, gets sandwiched between them.
Since we're learning about the passive voice, how would you change this sentence to "We saw the solar panel being installed on the roof"?
To make the installed action passive while keeping the active perception verb zagen, you replace the active infinitive with a passive infinitive construction (geïnstalleerd worden). The sentence becomes: We zagen het zonnepaneel op het dak geïnstalleerd worden.
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