Log inSign up

De suiker is gesmolten.

De suiker is gesmolten.
The sugar has melted.
From Lesson 428:State changes (zijn / hebben)·Dutch

Breakdown of De suiker is gesmolten.

zijn
to be
de suiker
the sugar
smelten
to melt

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'?
When you add a direct object (making the verb transitive), you switch to using hebben. You would say De kok heeft de suiker gesmolten. The rule is: use zijn for the thing changing state on its own, and hebben for the person or thing causing the change.
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.

Learn De suiker is gesmolten and more in Dutch

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Dutch →