Breakdown of Wij meten het niveau van de leerlingen na het examen.
wij
we
na
after
van
of
het examen
the exam
meten
to measure
het niveau
the level
de leerling
the student
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Questions & Answers about Wij meten het niveau van de leerlingen na het examen.
What role does na het examen play, and could I move it to the front?
na het examen is a temporal prepositional phrase meaning after the exam. In Dutch main clauses, time expressions can either end the sentence or start it. When you put it first, you must keep the conjugated verb in second position:
Na het examen meten wij het niveau van de leerlingen.
Why doesn't meten go to the end of the sentence like in some Germanic languages? Is it a separable verb?
meten is an inseparable verb meaning to measure. In Dutch main clauses, inseparable verbs remain in the V2-position (second slot) and never split. Only separable verbs split their prefix and place that part at the end.
Why do we say het niveau van de leerlingen instead of simply de leerlingen?
Because the direct object you're measuring is het niveau of the students, not the students themselves. Wij meten de leerlingen would imply you physically measure the students (for example their height).
Could I use hun niveau instead of het niveau van de leerlingen?
Technically yes: Wij meten hun niveau na het examen is grammatically correct. In practice, Dutch speakers often prefer het niveau van de leerlingen for clarity and to avoid potential confusion with hun in object position.
What is the function of van in van de leerlingen?
van is a preposition indicating possession or association (like of in English). It links het niveau to de leerlingen, showing that the level belongs to the students.
How do I know that examen and niveau take het instead of de?
Dutch noun gender must be learned individually. examen and niveau are neuter nouns, so they take het. You can consult a dictionary or a reliable word list; many loanwords from French ending in -e are neuter, but there are exceptions.
Why do we use na here, and when would I use voor or op with examen?
na means after, so na het examen = after the exam. Use voor meaning before (voor het examen) for 'before the exam'. op het examen means on or during the exam, for example:
Op het examen haal ik een goed cijfer.
How would I express that this measurement happened in the past using the perfect tense?
Use the perfect construction:
Wij hebben het niveau van de leerlingen na het examen gemeten.
Here hebben is the auxiliary verb and gemeten is the past participle, which moves to the end of the clause.