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Peter zit een essay te schrijven.
Karin staat met Linda te telefoneren. Karin is talking on the
phone with Linda.
De dekens hangen te luchten. The blankets are airing out.
In some cases, and mostly in speech, the verbs zitten or liggen are used to
express that something is going on, while the person doesn’t actually have
to be in the described position. The speaker is only expressing irritation
with the other person’s action.
Hij zit over het weer te klagen. He’s complaining about the weather.
Lig niet zo te zeuren. Stop nagging.
A separable verb in this durative construction must be separated by te.
Examples:
Hij zit een formulier in te vullen. He is filling out a form.
De docent staat een woord op te The teacher is writing down a
schrijven. word.
Ik zit me af te vragen wie dat is. I’m wondering who that is.
Ze staan met de band mee te zingen. They’re singing along with the
band.
The present perfect of this durative construction is formed with the
auxiliary verb hebben and two infinitives at the end, the infinitive of
the action or activity described coming last, and te is optional. Examples:
Durative
constructions
with
zitten,
staan,
lopen,
liggen,
hangen
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