Breakdown of Bovendien heeft het grote schild de ridder tegen de aanval beschermd.
groot
big
hebben
to have
beschermen
to protect
tegen
against / to (speaking to)
Questions & Answers about Bovendien heeft het grote schild de ridder tegen de aanval beschermd.
Why is the verb heeft placed before the subject het grote schild?
Because the sentence starts with the adverb Bovendien (moreover). In Dutch, starting a main clause with anything other than the subject triggers inversion, meaning the conjugated verb (heeft) and the subject (het grote schild) swap places.
Schild is a neuter (het) word. Why does the adjective grote still get an -e at the end?
Neuter (het) words only drop the -e ending on adjectives if they are preceded by an indefinite article (een), geen, or no article at all. Because the definite article het is used here, the adjective follows the standard rule and keeps the -e ending.
In English we often say a shield protects 'from' an attack. Why does Dutch use tegen (against)?
The Dutch verb beschermen (to protect) is paired with the fixed preposition tegen. Even when it feels more natural to say 'from' in English, you must always use beschermen tegen in Dutch to express what you are guarding against.
Why is the past participle beschermd placed at the very end of the sentence?