Breakdown of De astronoom rangschikt de vergrote foto's.
de foto
the photo
vergroten
to enlarge
de astronoom
the astronomer
rangschikken
to classify / to arrange (in order)
Questions & Answers about De astronoom rangschikt de vergrote foto's.
Why doesn't the verb rangschikken split into schikt ... rang like a normal separable verb?
Rangschikken is an inseparable back-formation (derived from a noun rather than built by combining a preposition with an active verb). Because it functions as a single, indivisible root, it never splits. You will always see forms like hij rangschikt, never hij schikt rang.
How do you form the past participle of an inseparable back-formation like rangschikken?
You treat it exactly like a normal, single-word verb and place the ge- prefix at the very beginning: gerangschikt. This is a common pattern for back-formations, similar to stofzuigen (gestofzuigd) and beeldhouwen (gebeeldhouwd).
The past participle of vergroten is vergroot. Why does it lose an o when written as de vergrote foto's?
This is due to Dutch spelling rules for open syllables. Because foto's is plural, the adjective takes an -e ending. This breaks the word into syllables as ver-gro-te. Since the o is now at the end of a syllable (an "open" syllable), it is automatically pronounced long. We drop the extra o because it is no longer needed.
Why is the plural written as foto's with an apostrophe?