Questions & Answers about De jam is in de pan ingedikt.
Why do we use is here instead of heeft to mean 'has thickened'?
The verb indikken (to thicken) is being used here to describe a change of state. Because the jam is just changing its own state (an intransitive action) rather than acting on a separate object, Dutch requires zijn (is) as the auxiliary verb instead of hebben.
If I wanted to say 'The chef has thickened the jam', would I still use is?
No, you would use heeft. If someone is actively causing the jam to thicken, the verb becomes transitive (it takes a direct object). You would say: De kok heeft de jam ingedikt. When an action is performed on an object by a subject, you use hebben.
How is the past participle ingedikt formed?
It comes from the separable verb indikken (in + dikken). To form the past participle of a separable verb, the ge- prefix goes between the separable part and the verb root, creating in-ge-dikt. It ends in -t because the root dik ends in 'k', which falls under the standard 't kofschip spelling rule.
Could I change the word order to De jam is ingedikt in de pan?
In standard written Dutch, no. The past participle (ingedikt) must be pushed to the very end of the main clause. Therefore, the prepositional phrase indicating the location (in de pan) needs to come before it. You might occasionally hear the alternative in casual speech as a clunky afterthought, but it is grammatically incorrect.
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