Word
De soldaten waren de vesting met de diepe gracht aan het bewaken.
Meaning
The soldiers were guarding the fortress with the deep moat.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De soldaten waren de vesting met de diepe gracht aan het bewaken.
zijn
to be
met
with
diep
deep
de soldaat
the soldier
Questions & Answers about De soldaten waren de vesting met de diepe gracht aan het bewaken.
Why is aan het bewaken placed at the very end of the sentence instead of right after waren?
In English, the continuous verb phrase stays together ("were guarding"). In Dutch, the conjugated verb (waren) stays in the second position, but the aan het + infinitive part is pushed to the end of the clause. This forms a verbal bracket around the entire object, which in this case is the long phrase de vesting met de diepe gracht.
I originally learned that gracht means "canal". Why is it translated as "moat" here?
While a gracht is indeed often a city canal (like those in Amsterdam), the word broadly refers to an artificially dug waterway. In the context of a castle or vesting (fortress), this defensive ring of water is exactly what English speakers call a "moat".
How would I use this lesson's focus word, waaronder, to say they were guarding "several fortresses, including the one with the deep moat"?
You would say: De soldaten waren meerdere vestingen aan het bewaken, waaronder die met de diepe gracht. In this context, waaronder (literally "under which") translates to "including" or "among which", allowing you to pick out a specific example from a larger group.
Could I just use the simple past instead of waren aan het bewaken?