Breakdown of De patiënt schommelt constant tussen wakker en slaperig.
en
and
wakker
awake
tussen
between
de patiënt
the patient
Questions & Answers about De patiënt schommelt constant tussen wakker en slaperig.
Since this lesson is about dan weer ... dan weer, how could we use that phrase to express the same idea?
You could say De patiënt is dan weer wakker, dan weer slaperig (The patient is sometimes awake, sometimes sleepy). The verb schommelen (to swing or fluctuate) achieves this exact same back-and-forth feeling in a single word.
What is the literal meaning of schommelt?
It comes from the verb schommelen, which literally means to swing or to rock (a children's swing is een schommel). In a medical or statistical context, it is the standard word for to fluctuate or to oscillate.
Why don't wakker and slaperig get an extra -e ending here?
Adjectives usually only get an added -e when they are placed directly in front of the noun they describe. Because they are being used here as independent states after the preposition tussen (between), they stay in their basic dictionary form.
Why is there a trema (two dots) on the word patiënt?
The trema shows where a new syllable begins. Without it, you might try to pronounce ie as a single long vowel sound (like the ee in see). The dots tell you to split the vowels to pronounce it as pa-shi-ent.