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In de bakkerij worden heerlijke croissants verkocht.

In de bakkerij worden heerlijke croissants verkocht.
Delicious croissants are sold in the bakery.
FromLesson 19inHardcore Dutch
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Breakdown of In de bakkerij worden heerlijke croissants verkocht.

in
in
heerlijk
delicious
de croissant
the croissant
de bakkerij
the bakery
worden verkocht
to be sold

Questions & Answers about In de bakkerij worden heerlijke croissants verkocht.

How is the passive voice formed in Dutch and why is worden used here instead of zijn?
The Dutch passive voice in the present tense is built with the auxiliary worden + past participle. In your sentence, worden verkocht literally means “are sold.” You don’t use zijn for a simple present passive—zijn + past participle marks a perfect passive (e.g., De croissants zijn verkocht = “The croissants have been sold”).
Why doesn’t the past participle verkocht have the prefix ge- like many other Dutch past participles?
Verbs with inseparable prefixes (such as ver-) drop the ge- prefix in their past participle. Since verkopen has the prefix ver-, its past participle is simply verkocht, not geverkocht. Compare kopen → gekocht, where kopen is a simple verb without an inseparable prefix and thus takes ge-.
Why does heerlijk change to heerlijke before croissants?

In Dutch, adjectives preceding a noun get an -e ending (called “e-declension”) when the noun is: • Plural (as croissants is), or
• Preceded by a definite article (de) or a demonstrative (deze, die).
Since croissants is plural (and would naturally take de croissants), heerlijk becomes heerlijke.

Why does the past participle verkocht appear at the end of the sentence, after heerlijke croissants?
Dutch main clauses follow the V2-rule: the finite verb (worden) occupies the second position. Non-finite verbs (like past participles) move to the end of the clause. Because you started with In de bakkerij (first position) and then worden (second), the participle verkocht has to go all the way to the end, after the subject heerlijke croissants.
Can I start the sentence with Heerlijke croissants instead of In de bakkerij, as in Heerlijke croissants worden in de bakkerij verkocht? Does it change the meaning?
Yes. Dutch allows topicalization: whatever you put first gets emphasis, but the core meaning stays the same. Heerlijke croissants worden in de bakkerij verkocht still means “Delicious croissants are sold in the bakery.” Just remember to keep worden in second position.
What difference does using een instead of de in In een bakkerij worden heerlijke croissants verkocht make?

Switching to een generalizes the statement: • In de bakkerij → “In the bakery” (a specific, contextually known bakery).
• In een bakkerij → “In a bakery” (any bakery, making a generic statement).
Both are grammatically correct; the article choice affects how specific or general you are.

When and why might you include er in a sentence like this, as in In de bakkerij worden er heerlijke croissants verkocht?

The pronoun er is an expletive used in impersonal/passive constructions to introduce new or indefinite information. You can add it for style or clarity: • Without er: In de bakkerij worden heerlijke croissants verkocht.
• With er: In de bakkerij worden er heerlijke croissants verkocht.
Both are correct. Adding er often feels more neutral or conversational, especially when there’s no clear topic ahead of the verb.

How can I mention who sells the croissants (the baker) in this passive sentence?

Use door (“by”) to introduce the agent:
In de bakkerij worden heerlijke croissants door de bakker verkocht.
This literally means “In the bakery, delicious croissants are sold by the baker.” In Dutch passive voice, specifying the agent with door is optional and used when you want to emphasize who performs the action.

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