Breakdown of Ze waren de kosmische gegevens aan het stroomlijnen.
zijn
to be
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
de gegevens
the data
kosmisch
cosmic
stroomlijnen
to streamline
Questions & Answers about Ze waren de kosmische gegevens aan het stroomlijnen.
Is stroomlijnen a separable verb, since it looks like it is made of stroom and lijnen?
No, it is an inseparable verb. It is a back-formation, meaning it was created from the noun de stroomlijn (the streamline) rather than by adding a separable prefix to an existing verb. Because of this, the parts are never split. For example, in the present tense you say ik stroomlijn, never ik lijn stroom.
How do you form the past participle of an inseparable back-formation like stroomlijnen?
It gets treated like a regular weak verb. Since it doesn't separate, the ge- prefix goes at the very beginning of the entire word, resulting in gestroomlijnd. This is different from separable verbs, where the -ge- is sandwiched in the middle (like schoongemaakt).
Is gegevens plural, and is that why kosmische gets an -e ending?
Exactly. Gegevens is the plural of het gegeven (a given or fact) and is the standard Dutch word for data or digital information. Because it is a plural noun, it takes the definite article de, and any adjective placed before it gets the -e ending.
Is it normal to use the aan het continuous form for an abstract action like streamlining?
Yes, as long as it describes an active, ongoing process. While Dutch generally uses the continuous form less often than English, waren aan het stroomlijnen is perfectly natural here to emphasize that they were actively in the middle of processing the data at that specific moment in the past.
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