Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Dutch grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about De suiker is gesmolten.
Why does this sentence use is instead of heeft to mean 'has'?
Because smelten (to melt) describes a change of state. When a change-of-state verb happens to the subject without a direct object (meaning it is used intransitively), Dutch uses zijn as the auxiliary verb for the perfect tense, not hebben.
How would the sentence change if someone caused the melting, like 'The cook has melted the sugar'?
Since it uses zijn, can this sentence also mean 'The sugar IS melted'?
Yes! With change-of-state verbs that take zijn, the perfect tense often doubles as a description of the current state. De suiker is gesmolten translates perfectly as either 'The sugar has melted' or 'The sugar is melted.' You can also use it as a standard adjective, as in de gesmolten suiker (the melted sugar).
What happens to is gesmolten if I put this in a subordinate clause, like 'I think that the sugar has melted'?
The verbs move to the end of the clause. You can say Ik denk dat de suiker is gesmolten or Ik denk dat de suiker gesmolten is. In Dutch, both word orders are correct for a perfect tense auxiliary and participle at the end of a sentence.