Breakdown of Deze vesting is makkelijk te verdedigen tegen een onverwachte aanval.
zijn
to be
een
a/an
deze
this / these
makkelijk
easy
tegen
against / to (speaking to)
te
to (infinitive marker)
onverwacht
unexpected
verdedigen
to defend
de vesting
the fortress
de aanval
the attack
Questions & Answers about Deze vesting is makkelijk te verdedigen tegen een onverwachte aanval.
Why is it is makkelijk te verdedigen instead of using om te?
In Dutch, the structure zijn + te + infinitive is a standard way to express that something can or must be done, acting a bit like a passive voice. Deze vesting is te verdedigen literally means "This fortress is to be defended" or "can be defended." While you might hear om te used here in casual spoken Dutch, dropping the om is the grammatically correct standard for this specific "can be done" construction.
Why does onverwachte get an -e ending? Doesn't the indefinite article een usually cause the adjective to drop the -e?
An adjective only drops the -e after een if the noun it modifies is a neuter het-word. The word for attack is de aanval. Because it is a de-word, the adjective keeps its standard -e ending, resulting in een onverwachte aanval.
How do we know just by looking at this sentence that vesting is a de-word?
We can tell because it is preceded by the demonstrative pronoun Deze. If vesting were a het-word, the sentence would have to start with Dit. Additionally, as a helpful pattern to remember, almost all Dutch nouns ending in the suffix -ing are de-words.
Is tegen the fixed preposition for verdedigen?
Yes, when you want to state the threat you are defending against, the fixed combination is verdedigen tegen. It maps perfectly to the English phrase "to defend against."
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