Breakdown of Het is gekrompen door de vergrijzing, dat op twee na grootste dorp.
zijn
to be
groot
big
twee
two
op
on
dat
that (het-words)
het
it
het dorp
the village
na
after (preposition)
door
because of / due to
krimpen
to shrink
de vergrijzing
the aging (of a population)
Questions & Answers about Het is gekrompen door de vergrijzing, dat op twee na grootste dorp.
How exactly does op twee na grootste mean "third largest"?
In Dutch, you form ranked superlatives using the pattern op + [number] + na + [superlative]. It translates literally as "except for two, the largest." Therefore, op een na grootste is the second largest, and op twee na grootste is the third largest.
Why do we use is gekrompen here instead of heeft gekrompen?
The verb krimpen (to shrink) expresses a change of state. In Dutch, verbs that indicate a physical change from one state to another (like growing, shrinking, freezing, or melting) take zijn in the perfect tense, not hebben.
Is vergrijzing the standard Dutch word for "aging"?
It is the specific word for the aging of a population or demographic, a very common topic in the news. It literally means "the greying," coming from the word grijs (grey). If you are talking about an individual person aging, you would use ouder worden or veroudering.
Why is dat op twee na grootste dorp tacked onto the end of the sentence after a comma?
This is a natural conversational structure where the speaker starts with the pronoun Het ("It") to get straight to the action, and then adds a clarification at the end to explain what "It" is. Because dorp is a neuter noun, the demonstrative pronoun used for "that" is dat.
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