Breakdown of Steeds meer mensen melden zich ziek met een burn-out.
een
a/an
met
with
de mens
the human / the person
meer
more
Questions & Answers about Steeds meer mensen melden zich ziek met een burn-out.
Why is "more and more" translated as steeds meer instead of meer en meer?
While meer en meer is sometimes used, steeds meer is the standard, most natural way to express a continuous increase in Dutch. Since steeds means "constantly" or "continually", you are literally saying "constantly more".
How does the verb for "calling in sick" work here?
The infinitive is zich ziekmelden. It is a reflexive, separable verb. The conjugated part (melden) goes in the second position, followed immediately by the reflexive pronoun (zich). The separable prefix (ziek) is pushed towards the end of the clause.
Why does met een burn-out come after ziek? Shouldn't the separable prefix go at the very end of the sentence?
While the separable prefix (ziek) often goes at the very end of a sentence, prepositional phrases like met een burn-out are frequently placed after it. This is perfectly normal and often preferred because placing heavy descriptive phrases before the prefix (like melden zich met een burn-out ziek) can sound a bit clunky.
Is burn-out always spelled with a hyphen in Dutch?
Yes. In Dutch spelling, English noun loanwords made from a verb plus a particle (like out, up, or down) get a mandatory hyphen. So while English often writes "burnout" as one word, Dutch strictly uses burn-out.