Breakdown of Anna voelt zich verantwoordelijk voor de kwaliteit van het project.
Anna
Anna
voor
for
zich
herself
voelen
to feel
van
of
het project
the project
verantwoordelijk
responsible
de kwaliteit
the quality
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Questions & Answers about Anna voelt zich verantwoordelijk voor de kwaliteit van het project.
Why does the verb voelt take the reflexive pronoun zich here?
In Dutch, voelen in the sense of “to feel (oneself) …” is reflexive. You always use zich in the third person:
- Anna voelt zich verantwoordelijk …
It literally means “Anna feels herself responsible …,” which corresponds to English “Anna feels responsible ….”
Could you omit zich and say Anna voelt verantwoordelijk voor de kwaliteit van het project?
No. Without zich the sentence becomes ungrammatical because you lose the reflexive construction. Voelen in this sense must be followed by a reflexive pronoun.
Why is the reflexive pronoun zich always the same in the third person, regardless of gender?
Dutch reflexive pronouns don’t change with gender or number in the third person. Whether it’s hij, zij or Anna (third-person singular), you always use zich.
Why is verantwoordelijk followed by voor instead of van or another preposition?
The adjective verantwoordelijk governs voor to indicate the object of responsibility. In English you say “responsible for,” and in Dutch it’s “verantwoordelijk voor.” You don’t say “verantwoordelijk van” or “verantwoordelijk op.”
Why is the finite verb voelt in second position, then zich, then verantwoordelijk?
Dutch is a V2 (verb-second) language: the finite verb must occupy the second slot in a main clause. After that, weak pronouns like zich immediately follow the verb, and the rest of the predicate comes later.
Why does kwaliteit take article de, whereas project takes het?
Dutch nouns have two gender classes:
- Common gender (de-words), e.g. de kwaliteit
- Neuter gender (het-words), e.g. het project
Why do we use van between kwaliteit and het project?
To express possession or genitive (the quality of the project), Dutch uses van. Here van het project simply means “of the project.”
Is verantwoordelijk related to the past participle verantwoord?
Yes. Verantwoord is the past participle of verantwoorden (“to account for”). Adding -elijk (like English -able) turns it into an adjective: “able to be accounted for,” hence “responsible.”
How can I approximate the pronunciation of zich verantwoordelijk?
• zich [zɪx] – the ch is a guttural sound, like the Scottish “loch.”
• verantwoordelijk [vɛr.ɑnt.ʋoːr.də.lɛik] – break it into syllables ver-ant-woord-e-lijk.
- aa in antwoord is long [oː]
- lijk roughly rhymes with English “like” but with lɛik.