Breakdown of Het samenstellen van de cijfers was behoorlijk tijdrovend.
zijn
to be
van
of
het samenstellen
the compiling
het cijfer
the number
behoorlijk
rather
tijdrovend
time-consuming
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Questions & Answers about Het samenstellen van de cijfers was behoorlijk tijdrovend.
Why is het used before samenstellen?
In Dutch, you can turn an infinitive into a noun by placing het in front of it. This het + infinitive construction functions like the English gerund (“the compiling”). It lets you use samenstellen as the subject of the sentence.
What does samenstellen literally mean, and why is it written as one word here?
samenstellen is a separable verb consisting of samen (“together”) + stellen (“to put”). It means “to compile” or “to assemble.” When you nominalize a separable verb (turn it into a noun with het), the prefix and verb stay together as one word. In finite sentences, the prefix can separate, but not in this noun‐like form.
What is the role of van in van de cijfers?
Dutch has no genitive case like English’s apostrophe-s. To express “of something,” you use van + noun (with an article if needed). So van links het samenstellen (“the compiling”) to de cijfers (“the figures”), giving “the compiling of the figures.”
Why is de used with cijfers, and how do we know it’s plural?
The plural of cijfer (“figure, data point, grade”) is cijfers; Dutch marks plurals with -s. All plural nouns use the article de (not het). Here it’s specific figures, so you say de cijfers rather than leaving out the article.
What is behoorlijk doing in this sentence, and can I use other intensifiers?
behoorlijk is an adverb of degree meaning “quite” or “fairly.” It modifies the adjective tijdrovend. In Dutch, adverbs that qualify adjectives come directly before the adjective. Other common intensifiers are:
• tamelijk (fairly, somewhat formal)
• nogal (rather, more colloquial)
• redelijk (quite, moderate)
• erg (very)
• heel (very)
What part of speech is tijdrovend, and how is it formed?
tijdrovend is an adjective meaning “time-consuming.” It’s formed by adding -end to the verb tijdroven (literally “to rob time”). Many Dutch verbs take -end on the stem to form adjectives, similar to English -ing adjectives.
Why is the verb was in the past tense instead of is?
Here the speaker refers to a completed task in the past, so they use was. If you wanted to make a general or ongoing statement, you could say Het samenstellen van de cijfers is behoorlijk tijdrovend (“is quite time-consuming”).
Could I replace cijfers with getallen here?
Yes. getallen means “numbers” in a purely mathematical sense. cijfers often refers to statistical figures, data results or grades. So if you mean raw numeric values you can use getallen, but in data/reporting contexts cijfers is more common.