Breakdown of Ik heb stress ervaren tijdens de vergadering.
ik
I
hebben
to have
tijdens
during
de vergadering
the meeting
de stress
the stress
ervaren
to experience
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Questions & Answers about Ik heb stress ervaren tijdens de vergadering.
Why is stress not preceded by an indefinite article like een in this sentence?
In Dutch stress is treated as an uncountable (mass) noun when you talk about the general state of being stressed. Mass nouns don’t take an article. You could use een if you specify a particular instance (for example een stressmoment), but not when you simply say “I have stress.”
Why is the verb ervaren used here instead of voelen?
ervaren means “to experience” and is used when you describe undergoing something. voelen means “to feel.” If you wanted to say “I felt stressed,” you’d say Ik voelde me gestrest (note the reflexive me and the adjective gestrest). But to express “I experienced stress,” you use the noun stress with ervaren.
Why does this sentence use the auxiliary hebben (heb) and not zijn?
In Dutch the perfect tense of transitive verbs (verbs that take a direct object) uses hebben. Since ervaren is transitive (you experience something), you form the perfect with hebben.
Why does the past participle remain ervaren and not take a ge- prefix (e.g. gerevaaren)?
Dutch verbs with inseparable prefixes (like er- in ervaren) never take the ge- in their past participle. The participle of ervaren is identical to its infinitive: ervaren.
Why is the present perfect tense (heb ervaren) used instead of the simple past (ervoer) here?
In everyday spoken and written Dutch the perfect tense is preferred to describe past actions or experiences. The simple past Ik ervoer stress is grammatically correct but sounds more formal or literary.
Why is the past participle ervaren placed at the very end of the sentence?
In a Dutch main clause the finite verb (here heb) occupies second position, and any non‑finite verb forms (like the past participle ervaren) move to the end. All objects and adverbials (such as tijdens de vergadering) come before it.
Why is tijdens used instead of in to express “during the meeting”?
tijdens specifically means “during” and is the standard preposition for an ongoing time span (“during the meeting”). in would suggest “inside” or “within” but is not normally used for “during.”
Why is it de vergadering and not het vergadering?
vergadering is a common-gender noun in Dutch and takes the definite article de. Only neuter nouns use het.