Breakdown of Wij dragen bij aan een rechtvaardige samenleving.
rechtvaardig
fair / just
bijdragen aan
to contribute to
Questions & Answers about Wij dragen bij aan een rechtvaardige samenleving.
How would I rewrite this sentence to say "We should contribute to a just society"?
You would use zouden moeten (should / ought to). The sentence becomes: Wij zouden aan een rechtvaardige samenleving moeten bijdragen. The auxiliary verb zouden takes the second position, pushing the infinitive moeten and the full verb bijdragen (which reconnects into a single word) to the very end of the sentence.
Why is bij separated from dragen in this sentence?
The verb for "to contribute" is the separable verb bijdragen. Because this is a standard main clause, the core verb (dragen) takes the second position, and the separable prefix (bij) splits off. It gets pushed later in the sentence, landing just before the prepositional phrase.
Why use aan for "to" in this sentence?
In Dutch, the verb bijdragen pairs with the fixed preposition aan. When you "contribute to" something, it is always bijdragen aan, so you cannot translate "to" literally with naar or tot here.
Why does rechtvaardige end in an -e even though it comes after een?
Samenleving is a de-word (de samenleving). Adjectives placed in front of a de-word always get an -e ending, even after indefinite articles like een. An adjective only drops the -e after een if it describes a het-word.
How does the word samenleving translate to "society"?
It is a highly literal compound word. It is made up of samen (together) and leving (living, derived from the verb leven). In Dutch, a society is quite literally a "living together".
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