Breakdown of Zij begon zich te verkijken op de prijs.
zij
she
beginnen
to begin
de prijs
the price
te
to (infinitive marker)
zich verkijken op
to misjudge
Questions & Answers about Zij begon zich te verkijken op de prijs.
How do the prefix ver- and the reflexive pronoun zich change the meaning of kijken here?
The prefix ver- combined with a reflexive pronoun like zich often indicates making a mistake. While kijken means to look, zich verkijken literally means to look at something wrongly. In this sentence, it translates to misjudging or underestimating the price.
Why is the preposition op used before de prijs?
The verb zich verkijken takes the fixed preposition op to introduce the thing that is being misjudged. Whenever you misjudge a situation, a person, or an amount in Dutch, you always use zich verkijken op.
Why is zich placed immediately after begon rather than right before verkijken?
Even though zich belongs to the infinitive verkijken, it naturally moves up to sit right after the conjugated verb (begon). In Dutch, reflexive pronouns and other short object pronouns tend to be placed as early as possible in the sentence, well before the te plus infinitive construction at the very end.
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