Breakdown of De beheerder houdt de netheid in de gaten.
de netheid
the tidiness / the cleanliness
in de gaten houden
to keep an eye on
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Dutch grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about De beheerder houdt de netheid in de gaten.
Why is in de gaten placed at the end of the sentence?
The phrase is iets in de gaten houden (to keep an eye on something). Because houden is the conjugated verb in this main clause, it takes the second position (houdt), and the fixed prepositional part of the expression (in de gaten) is pushed to the end of the sentence. This behaves just like a separable verb.
The English translation says 'an eye', but isn't gaten plural?
Yes! Gaten is the plural of gat (hole). So iets in de gaten houden literally translates to 'keeping something in the holes' (historically referring to the eye sockets). It is a fixed idiom in Dutch, so you must always use the plural gaten to mean 'an eye on'.
How does the suffix -heid work in netheid?
It works exactly like '-ness' in English. You take the adjective net (neat or tidy) and add the suffix -heid to turn it into an abstract noun. All nouns ending in -heid are de words, which is why it is de netheid.
What kind of 'manager' is a beheerder?