Breakdown of Naar men zegt, hebben de media het schandaal ontdekt.
hebben
to have
zeggen
to say
ontdekken
to discover
men
one / people (general)
het schandaal
the scandal
naar
as (according to what someone knows/says)
de media
the media
Questions & Answers about Naar men zegt, hebben de media het schandaal ontdekt.
How exactly does naar function in the phrase Naar men zegt?
In this structure, naar works like a conjunction meaning "according to what" or "as". Combined with a subject and a verb of reporting or thinking (like zegt), it frames the sentence as hearsay, knowledge, or assumption. Naar men zegt literally translates to "according to what one says" (rumor has it).
Why use men here instead of mensen or ze?
men is an indefinite pronoun similar to the general "they", "people", or "one" in English. It is a bit formal and commonly used in written Dutch or news reporting. While you might hear naar ze zeggen in casual speech, naar men zegt is a very standard fixed expression.
Why is the main verb hebben placed right after the comma?
Why is the verb hebben plural when the subject is de media?
Unlike in English, where "the media" is often treated as a singular mass noun, Dutch strictly treats de media as the plural of het medium. Because the subject is plural, the verb must be the plural hebben, not the singular heeft.
Why doesn't the past participle ontdekt start with ge-?
The verb ontdekken (to discover) starts with the prefix ont-. Verbs beginning with inseparable prefixes (like be-, er-, her-, ver-, and ont-) do not get an additional ge- when forming the past participle.
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