Breakdown of De belichting moet meteen door de cameraman afgesteld worden.
moeten
to have to, must
meteen
immediately
worden
to become
door
by (agent in a passive sentence)
Questions & Answers about De belichting moet meteen door de cameraman afgesteld worden.
Why do we use moet ... worden here instead of moet ... zijn?
This sentence expresses a dynamic obligation, meaning an action that needs to happen right now. We use moet worden when focusing on the action being performed (the cameraman actively adjusting the lights). If we used moet zijn, it would describe a stative necessity, meaning the lighting needs to already be in a state of being adjusted, perhaps before the actors arrive.
Why do afgesteld and worden go at the very end of the sentence?
In Dutch, when you have a modal verb like moet in the second position, the rest of the verb phrase is pushed to the end of the clause. In a modal passive sentence, this means the past participle (afgesteld) and the passive auxiliary (worden) cluster together at the very end.
I notice afgesteld doesn't start with ge-. How is this past participle formed?
The infinitive is afstellen, which is a separable verb made of af plus stellen. When forming the past participle of a separable verb, the ge- part goes between the separable prefix and the main verb stem. The past participle of stellen is gesteld, so when you attach af, you get afgesteld.
Why is door de cameraman in the middle of the sentence instead of at the end like in English?