De benauwde patiënt raakte kort bewusteloos.

Because the adjective is placed before the noun, so it usually takes an -e ending in Dutch.

• de benauwde patiënt
• de zieke man
• het zieke kind

Compare that with the adjective used after a verb:

• De patiënt is benauwd.
• De man is ziek.

So:

• benauwde = attributive adjective, before the noun
• benauwd = predicative adjective, after a verb like zijn

Benauwd can have a few related meanings in Dutch, so learners often notice that it is a bit broader than one single English word.

Common meanings include:

• short of breath
• having breathing difficulty
• oppressed / tight in the chest
• sometimes anxious or distressed
• for a room: stuffy

With patiënt, the most likely meaning is something like:

• short of breath
• in respiratory distress
• having trouble breathing

So in medical context, een benauwde patiënt usually does not mean just “an anxious patient,” but rather a patient with breathing trouble.

Raakte is the simple past form of raken.

• infinitive: raken
• present: raakt
• past singular: raakte
• past plural: raakten
• past participle: geraakt

In this sentence, raken means to become / to get into a state.

Dutch often uses raken with adjectives:

• gewond raken = to get injured
• verward raken = to become confused
• bewusteloos raken = to become unconscious

So raakte bewusteloos means became unconscious.

Both can be possible, but raakte bewusteloos is very natural and common.

Raken + adjective often suggests that someone entered a state, sometimes suddenly or as the result of something.

• Hij raakte gewond. = He got injured.
• Zij raakte in paniek. = She got into a panic.
• De patiënt raakte bewusteloos. = The patient became unconscious.

Werd bewusteloos is also understandable, but raakte bewusteloos often sounds a bit more idiomatic in this kind of medical or narrative context.

Because here bewusteloos is not before a noun. It comes after the verb raakte and describes the state the patient entered.

That makes it a predicative adjective, and predicative adjectives in Dutch normally do not take -e.

Compare:

• de bewusteloze patiënt = the unconscious patient
• de patiënt is bewusteloos = the patient is unconscious
• de patiënt raakte bewusteloos = the patient became unconscious

So:

• before a noun: usually -e
• after a verb: usually no -e

Here kort means briefly or for a short time.

Literally, kort often means short, but Dutch can also use it adverbially in this way:

• kort praten = to speak briefly
• kort twijfelen = to hesitate briefly
• kort bewusteloos raken = to be unconscious briefly

So kort modifies the event and tells you that the unconsciousness lasted only a short time.

Because kort bewusteloos raken functions as a natural unit: to become unconscious briefly.

Dutch often places adverbs like kort before the adjective or phrase they modify.

So the structure is:

• De benauwde patiënt = subject
• raakte = finite verb
• kort = adverb
• bewusteloos = complement

This word order is completely normal in Dutch.

Yes. Raakte is the simple past.

So the sentence is narrating something that happened in the past.

In English, you might translate it with:

• became
• briefly lost consciousness

In Dutch, especially in speech, you might also hear the present perfect:

• De benauwde patiënt is kort bewusteloos geraakt.

Both are correct, but raakte is the simple past form used in the sentence you were given.

Yes. Patiënt is a de-word in the singular.

So:

• de patiënt = the patient
• een patiënt = a patient

And in the plural:

• de patiënten = the patients

Because it is a de-word, the adjective before it also appears in the form you see here:

• de benauwde patiënt

The dots are a diaeresis (trema): ë.

They show that the vowels are pronounced in separate syllables, rather than blending together as one vowel combination.

So patiënt is pronounced in separate parts, roughly like:

• pa-ti-ent

The trema helps signal that the e starts a new syllable.

You see this in other Dutch words too, such as:

• geïrriteerd
• naïef
• egoïstisch

Yes. It follows the normal main-clause pattern where the finite verb is in second position.

Structure:

• De benauwde patiënt = position 1
• raakte = finite verb in position 2
• kort bewusteloos = the rest of the predicate

This is standard Dutch V2 word order for main clauses.

So the sentence is grammatically very regular:

De benauwde patiënt | raakte | kort bewusteloos.