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De kwaliteit van het water wordt elke week betrouwbaar gemeten.

De kwaliteit van het water wordt elke week betrouwbaar gemeten.
The quality of the water is measured reliably every week.
FromLesson 37inHardcore Dutch
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Questions & Answers about De kwaliteit van het water wordt elke week betrouwbaar gemeten.

Why do we use wordt…gemeten here, and how is the passive formed in Dutch?

In Dutch the passive voice is formed with a conjugated form of worden (to become) plus the past participle of the main verb. In this sentence:

  • wordt is the 3rd person singular present of worden, agreeing with the singular subject de kwaliteit.
  • gemeten is the past participle of meten (to measure).
    So wordt betrouwbaar gemeten literally means “is measured reliably.”
Why is it wordt and not worden?

The form of worden in a passive construction must match the grammatical number (and person) of the subject:

  • de kwaliteit is singular, so we use wordt (3rd person singular).
  • If the subject were plural (e.g. de watermonsters), we would say worden (3rd person plural).
What does betrouwbaar modify here? Is it an adverb or an adjective?
In this sentence betrouwbaar is used adverbially to describe how the measuring takes place (“in a reliable manner”). Dutch adjectives often serve as adverbs without any change in form. So here betrouwbaar modifies the verb gemeten.
Why does elke week come before betrouwbaar and gemeten?

Dutch main clauses typically follow the Time-Manner-Place order for adverbials:

  1. Time (elke week)
  2. Manner (betrouwbaar)
  3. Place (not present here)
    After those adverbials comes the rest of the verb cluster (wordt…gemeten).
Could we move elke week to the beginning of the sentence? What happens to word order then?

Yes. Placing a time adverbial first triggers inversion of subject and verb:
Elke week wordt de kwaliteit van het water betrouwbaar gemeten.
Note that wordt now immediately follows Elke week, and the subject de kwaliteit… comes after.

What is the function of van in de kwaliteit van het water?
van expresses the “of”-relationship (genitive). de kwaliteit is the head noun, and van het water specifies whose or what quality you’re talking about (“the quality of the water”).
Is gemeten the past participle of meten, and are there irregularities?

Yes. meten is irregular in Dutch:

  • Present: meten
  • Simple past: mat (ik mat)
  • Past participle: gemeten
    So you always form the passive with worden
    • gemeten.
Can we express betrouwbaar in a different way?

Certainly. You could use a phrase like op een betrouwbare manier or op betrouwbare wijze:
De kwaliteit van het water wordt elke week op een betrouwbare manier gemeten.

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