Breakdown of De organisatie heeft alle factoren laten meewegen voordat ze een besluit namen over het nieuwe project.
hebben
to have
nieuw
new
over
about
nemen
to take
voordat
before
ze
they
de organisatie
the organization
het project
the project
alle
all
het besluit
the decision
de factor
the factor
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Questions & Answers about De organisatie heeft alle factoren laten meewegen voordat ze een besluit namen over het nieuwe project.
What does laten meewegen mean in this sentence?
The phrase laten meewegen is a causative construction meaning “to have something taken into account” or “to let weigh in.” Here, it indicates that the organization made sure all relevant factors were considered before making a decision about the new project.
Why does the sentence use a mix of tenses—heeft alle factoren laten meewegen in the perfect tense and namen in the simple past?
The first part, heeft alle factoren laten meewegen, is in the present perfect, emphasizing that the action of having the factors weighed is complete and still relevant. The second part, namen, is in the simple past and shows that the decision was taken after the factors were considered. This tense combination clearly establishes the sequence of events: the factors were weighed first, then the decision was made.
What does the pronoun ze refer to in this sentence?
The pronoun ze refers to de organisatie. Although organisatie is a singular noun, it is feminine in Dutch. In everyday usage, the unstressed form ze (short for zij) is commonly used to refer to singular feminine nouns.
How does voordat function to connect the actions in the sentence?
Voordat means “before.” It introduces a subordinate clause that indicates the timing of events. In this sentence, it shows that the weighing of all factors happened prior to the moment when the decision was made about the new project.
Can you explain the structure of the causative construction with laten in this context?
Certainly. In Dutch, laten is used to form a causative construction. The structure here is: subject (de organisatie) + auxiliary verb (heeft) + object (alle factoren) + laten + main verb in the infinitive (meewegen). This indicates that the organization caused or arranged for the factors to be weighed (i.e., to be taken into account) rather than doing it directly itself.