Breakdown of In de vergaderzaal vraagt Anna of deze laptop geschikt is voor het grote scherm.
zijn
to be
Anna
Anna
groot
big
in
in
voor
for
deze
this
vragen
to ask
of
if
de laptop
the laptop
de vergaderzaal
the meeting room
geschikt
suitable
het scherm
the screen
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Questions & Answers about In de vergaderzaal vraagt Anna of deze laptop geschikt is voor het grote scherm.
Why does the sentence start with In de vergaderzaal instead of Anna vraagt in de vergaderzaal?
In Dutch main clauses, if you start with an adverbial phrase of time or place (here In de vergaderzaal), the finite verb must come directly after it. That pushes the subject (Anna) to the position after the verb (vraagt). If you put the subject first, you’d say Anna vraagt in de vergaderzaal…
Why is of used here? It looks like or, but the meaning is “if/whether,” right?
Exactly. Dutch uses of to introduce indirect yes/no questions, meaning “if” or “whether.” It’s not offering a choice. For a real “or … or …” choice, you’d use of … of …
Why is the word order in the embedded question deze laptop geschikt is… instead of is deze laptop geschikt…?
Because it’s a subordinate clause introduced by of. In subordinate clauses in Dutch, the finite verb goes to the very end (here you get the cluster geschikt is). In a direct question you’d invert, e.g. Is deze laptop geschikt…?
What does geschikt mean and what part of speech is it?
Geschikt is an adjective meaning “suitable” or “appropriate.” Here it’s a predicative adjective (a complement) describing deze laptop.
Why is it geschikt voor het grote scherm instead of geschikt om op het grote scherm te gebruiken?
Dutch often uses the structure geschikt voor + noun to say “suitable for something.” You can rephrase with geschikt om … te + infinitive, e.g. geschikt om op het grote scherm te gebruiken, but geschikt voor het grote scherm is shorter and more idiomatic when you just refer to the screen.
Why is it deze laptop and not dit laptop?
Because laptop is a “de-word” (common gender noun), and you use deze with de-words in the singular. Dit goes with het-words in the singular.
Why is it het grote scherm with grote (–e)? Shouldn’t it be groot scherm?
Adjectives in Dutch get an –e ending when the noun is definite (with de or het) or plural. Since it’s het grote scherm (definite), groot takes –e. With an indefinite neuter you’d say een groot scherm.
What does vergaderzaal mean and how is it formed?
Vergaderzaal literally combines vergadering (meeting) and zaal (hall), so it means “meeting room” or “conference room.” In Dutch, compound nouns are written as one word.