Breakdown of Hem werd duizend euro gegeven nadat hij de jackpot had gewonnen.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
hebben
to have
de euro
the euro
geven
to give
Questions & Answers about Hem werd duizend euro gegeven nadat hij de jackpot had gewonnen.
Why does the sentence start with Hem (him) instead of Hij (he) like the English translation?
In English, the person receiving something can become the subject of a passive sentence ("He was given"). In Dutch, this isn't allowed. The indirect object must remain an object. Because duizend euro is the thing being given, it becomes the grammatical subject, and hem stays an object pronoun. It is placed at the start of the sentence here just for emphasis.
Could I say Aan hem werd duizend euro gegeven instead?
Yes, you can! Because hem is the indirect object, you can explicitly add the preposition aan (to). When the indirect object is placed at the beginning of the sentence like this, it is very common to drop aan, but including it is perfectly correct and often makes the grammatical structure easier to see.
If hem isn't the subject, why is the verb werd singular? Doesn't duizend euro count as plural?
The verb werd agrees with the actual grammatical subject, duizend euro. In Dutch, when expressing a specific amount or price, currencies like euro remain singular and take a singular verb. Therefore, the singular verb werd is correct, rather than the plural werden.
Why are the verbs had gewonnen grouped at the very end of the sentence?