Breakdown of De beveiliging liet weten dat de liftsnelheid verlaagd is uit voorzichtigheid.
zijn
to be
dat
that
uit
out of
de voorzichtigheid
the caution
de beveiliging
the security
de liftsnelheid
the elevator speed
verlaagd
reduced
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Questions & Answers about De beveiliging liet weten dat de liftsnelheid verlaagd is uit voorzichtigheid.
What does de beveiliging mean in this sentence?
Here de beveiliging refers to the security service or security staff responsible for monitoring and protecting a building or installation. It’s not just security equipment but the people (or the department) in charge of safety.
What does liet weten mean, and why is it used instead of a simple verb like “informed”?
Liet weten is the past tense of laten weten, a causative construction meaning to let someone know or to inform. So de beveiliging liet weten literally means the security let it be known, which in English we render as the security informed (us). Dutch often uses laten weten for “tell/let know”.
Why is liftsnelheid written as one word?
Dutch frequently combines related nouns into a single compound word without spaces or hyphens. Here lift (elevator) + snelheid (speed) merge to liftsnelheid. The last part (snelheid) is the head, determining the gender and plural form (de liftsnelheid, de liftsnelheden).
Why does the clause end with verlaagd is, and not is verlaagd?
Because this is a subordinate clause introduced by dat, Dutch moves the finite verb(s) to the end. When you have a perfect passive, the participle (verlaagd) comes before the auxiliary (is), forming the cluster verlaagd is. In a main clause you’d say is verlaagd, but after dat it’s verlaagd is.
Why is is used as the auxiliary with verlaagd instead of worden?
Dutch distinguishes two passive types. A dynamic passive (focusing on the action) uses worden (wordt verlaagd: “is being reduced”), while a stative/resultative passive (focusing on the result) uses zijn (is verlaagd: “has been reduced/is now reduced”). Here we want the resulting state (the speed is now lowered), so we use is.
What does uit voorzichtigheid mean, and could it be placed elsewhere?
Uit voorzichtigheid means out of caution or as a precaution. It’s a reason phrase (a prepositional adverbial). In Dutch it can appear at the front for emphasis (Uit voorzichtigheid is de liftsnelheid verlaagd), after the subject (De liftsnelheid is uit voorzichtigheid verlaagd), or even at the very end, as in the example. The key is that in subordinate clauses the verb cluster still stays at the end.