Breakdown of Dit vakblad wijst hun een lastige taak toe.
een
a/an
hun
their
dit
this (neuter)
de taak
the task
lastig
tricky / difficult (troublesome)
het vakblad
the academic journal
toewijzen
to assign
Questions & Answers about Dit vakblad wijst hun een lastige taak toe.
Why do we use hun instead of hen for them in this sentence?
In formal written Dutch, we use hun for an indirect object (the entity receiving something) when there is no preposition in front of it. Here, een lastige taak is the direct object being assigned to them. Since there is no preposition like aan before the pronoun, we must use hun.
Where does the word toe at the end of the sentence come from?
It is the separable prefix of the verb toewijzen (to assign). In a standard main clause, the conjugated part wijst takes the second position, and the prefix toe gets kicked to the very end of the sentence.
If I wanted to use the preposition aan to mean to them, how would that change the pronoun?
If you add a preposition, the strict written rule requires you to switch from hun to hen. You would say Dit vakblad wijst een lastige taak aan hen toe. You must always use hen after a preposition.
Does lastige mean exactly the same thing as moeilijke?
They are often interchangeable, but lastig carries a specific nuance of being tricky, troublesome, or bothersome. Moeilijk is the more general and neutral word for something that is hard to do.
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