Breakdown of Anna is daar vorig jaar geweest en zij vond het speciaal.
zijn
to be
Anna
Anna
zij
she
en
and
het
it
daar
there
vinden
to find
vorig jaar
last year
speciaal
special
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Questions & Answers about Anna is daar vorig jaar geweest en zij vond het speciaal.
Why is the perfect tense is geweest used instead of the simple past was?
In Dutch, the perfect tense is very common for reporting past events, especially in spoken and narrative contexts. While Anna was daar vorig jaar is grammatically correct, using Anna is daar vorig jaar geweest feels more natural to many native speakers and highlights the event’s relevance to the present discussion.
Why do we use is as the auxiliary verb with geweest instead of heeft?
Geweest is the past participle of the verb zijn (to be). In Dutch, the perfect of zijn always takes zijn (e.g. is or ben) as its auxiliary, never hebben.
Why is geweest placed at the end of the sentence?
Dutch uses an SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) word order in clauses with multiple verbs. After the subject (Anna), auxiliary (is), and any adverbials (daar vorig jaar), the past participle (geweest) moves to the end.
Could we say Anna is vorig jaar daar geweest instead? If so, is there a difference?
Yes, you can say Anna is vorig jaar daar geweest. Time adverbials (like vorig jaar) typically come before place adverbials (like daar), but Dutch allows some flexibility for emphasis. Putting daar first highlights the location more strongly.
What’s the difference between daar and er here?
Daar points to a specific or known location (“there, at that place”). Er is more general or abstract and often used with verbs that require a preposition. In this sentence, daar clearly refers back to a particular site Anna visited.
Why is the pronoun zij repeated in the second clause instead of being left out?
Dutch requires an explicit subject in each independent clause. Even though Anna is the subject of both verbs, you must include zij (she) after the conjunction en to maintain correct word order.
What does het refer to in zij vond het speciaal?
The pronoun het is a placeholder that refers back to the experience or event of Anna being there. It doesn’t have gender here—it simply stands in for “that” or “it” in English.
Why is speciaal not inflected to agree with het?
After a linking verb like vinden (to find), the adjective stays in its base (uninflected) form when used predicatively. That’s why speciaal remains unchanged rather than taking an ending.