Breakdown of Die stijl is speciaal ontworpen door een beroemde trainer.
zijn
to be
die
that
een
a, an
door
by
de stijl
the style
speciaal
specially
ontwerpen
to design
beroemd
famous
de trainer
the trainer
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Questions & Answers about Die stijl is speciaal ontworpen door een beroemde trainer.
Why is this sentence in the passive voice?
Because the focus is on die stijl (that style), not on who designed it. In Dutch, you turn an active sentence like “Een beroemde trainer heeft die stijl speciaal ontworpen” into a passive by making the object (die stijl) the subject and using an auxiliary verb (is) plus the past participle (ontworpen).
How do you form the passive in Dutch?
Use a form of zijn (to be) or worden (to become) plus the past participle of your main verb.
– Resultative/state passive: “Die stijl is ontworpen” (focus on the result).
– Process/eventive passive: “Die stijl wordt ontworpen” (focus on the action).
What is the word order in “is speciaal ontworpen”?
Dutch main clauses follow V2 (verb-second) order:
- Die stijl (subject)
- is (finite verb)
- speciaal (adverb of manner)
- ontworpen (past participle)
The adverb speciaal comes immediately after the finite verb is and before the participle ontworpen.
Why do we say die stijl and not dat stijl?
In Dutch demonstratives change with the gender of the noun. Stijl is a common-gender noun (a de-word), so you use die for singular. Dat is only for singular het-words (neuter nouns).
What’s the difference between die stijl and deze stijl?
die = “that” (something more distant in space or discourse)
deze = “this” (something close or just mentioned)
Why does the adjective beroemd take an -e ending before trainer?
In Dutch, when an adjective precedes a noun with an article (de, het, or een), it takes an -e:
– een beroemde trainer
– de beroemde trainer
Why is there een before beroemde trainer instead of de?
een is the indefinite article (“a” or “an”), so it introduces a non-specific trainer. If you said de beroemde trainer, you’d be referring to a particular trainer already known to the listener.
Why is the agent introduced with door rather than van?
In Dutch passives, the doer of the action is marked with door (“by”). van usually shows possession or origin, not the agent in a passive construction.
Why aren’t stijl and trainer capitalized in Dutch?
Unlike English, Dutch only capitalizes the first word of a sentence and proper names. Common nouns like stijl and trainer stay lowercase.