Breakdown of Ze is hout aan het inslaan geweest, dus we kunnen de kachel aanzetten.
zijn
to be
kunnen
can
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
dus
so, therefore
het hout
the wood
aanzetten
to turn on
de kachel
the stove (for heating) / the heater
inslaan
to stock up
Questions & Answers about Ze is hout aan het inslaan geweest, dus we kunnen de kachel aanzetten.
How do we form the perfect continuous in this sentence?
To say 'has been stocking up', Dutch takes the continuous form aan het inslaan and puts it in the present perfect tense. Since this continuous structure is built around the verb zijn (to be), it uses the conjugated auxiliary is and places the past participle geweest at the end of the clause.
Why is the auxiliary is used for the perfect tense here instead of heeft?
Why is the separable verb inslaan written as a single word?
When a separable verb is used as an infinitive in the aan het continuous construction, its prefix and main verb stay attached. Therefore, the prefix in and the verb slaan combine into the single word inslaan.
Why does the word order remain we kunnen after dus, rather than inverting to kunnen we?
dus is a coordinating conjunction. Just like en (and) or maar (but), it connects two main clauses without triggering word order inversion. Because of this, the subject we stays right in front of the conjugated verb kunnen.
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