Breakdown of De ridders waren hun wapens aan het schoonmaken, waaronder dit zwaard.
zijn
to be
hun
their
dit
this (neuter)
schoonmaken
to clean
het wapen
the weapon
waaronder
including (which) / among which
de ridder
knight
het zwaard
sword
Questions & Answers about De ridders waren hun wapens aan het schoonmaken, waaronder dit zwaard.
Why does waaronder mean including here, since onder means under?
In Dutch, the relative pronominal adverb waaronder literally translates to under which. However, it is idiomatically used to mean among which or including. Here, it relates back to the plural noun wapens (weapons), signaling that dit zwaard (this sword) is one specific item within that larger group.
Could I use inclusief instead of waaronder in this sentence?
Yes, you could say inclusief dit zwaard. However, using waaronder is highly native-sounding. It acts as a bridge that explicitly links a specific example back to a previously mentioned category or group (in this case, hun wapens).
Why is schoonmaken kept as one word here? Can you split separable verbs when using aan het?
In standard written Dutch, the full infinitive stays together after the continuous marker aan het, which gives us aan het schoonmaken. However, in everyday spoken Dutch, it is very common to split the verb and place the prefix before the continuous phrase, like this: schoon aan het maken. Keeping it together is the standard choice for text.
Why is it dit zwaard and not deze zwaard?
Zwaard is a neuter noun, meaning it takes the definite article het. When pointing out a specific neuter object nearby, you must use the demonstrative pronoun dit (this). You only use deze for de-words or for plurals.
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