Learn Dutch: Door het missen van de straat hebben wij ons verreden. - Due to missing the street, we took a wrong turn.

The infinitive is zich verrijden. The base verb is rijden (to drive). By adding the prefix ver- and making it reflexive (using ons because the subject is wij), it implies doing the action incorrectly. Instead of just driving, it means driving the wrong way or taking a wrong turn.

Why does the verb hebben come before the subject wij?

This is an example of inversion. The sentence starts with the prepositional phrase Door het missen van de straat (Due to missing the street). Because this phrase occupies the first position in the sentence, the conjugated verb (hebben) must take the second position, which pushes the subject (wij) into the third position.

Why is the phrase written as het missen rather than just using the verb missen?

Here, the verb missen (to miss) is acting as a noun. In Dutch, when you turn a whole infinitive verb into a noun to talk about the concept of the action (similar to the English -ing form), it always takes the neuter definite article het.

If we had taken a wrong turn while walking instead of driving, how would the verb change?