Word
Mijn suggestie kan als betweterig worden opgevat.
Meaning
My suggestion can be taken as pedantic.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Mijn suggestie kan als betweterig worden opgevat.
mijn
my
kunnen
can
worden
to become
als
as (like / conjunction)
Questions & Answers about Mijn suggestie kan als betweterig worden opgevat.
Where does the adjective betweterig come from?
It is formed from the noun de betweter (the know-it-all). If you break it down, it comes from the words beter (better) and weten (to know). The suffix -ig turns it into an adjective meaning pedantic or bossy.
Why do we use worden here instead of zijn for the passive voice?
Because the modal verb kan is describing an action that could happen, not a completed state. When combining a modal verb with a passive action, you use worden + the past participle (opgevat). If the interpretation had already happened, you would drop the modal and use zijn: Mijn suggestie is als betweterig opgevat (My suggestion was taken as pedantic).
What is the infinitive of opgevat, and how does it work grammatically here?
The infinitive is the separable verb opvatten. The fixed expression is iets opvatten als (to interpret something as / to take something as). Since it is separable, the ge- prefix of the past participle is sandwiched between the prefix and the root: op + ge + vat.
Since this lesson is about pre-emptive negation, how would I follow this sentence up with 'Not that I mean it that way'?