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90
UNIT THIRTEEN
Durative constructions
Introduction
A durative construction is used to indicate that an action is going on at
the present moment and might be going on for a while longer. Durative
constructions are a close equivalent to the English ‘-ing’ form as in ‘he is
working’, ‘she is writing a letter’, etc.
Durative constructions with zitten, staan,
lopen, liggen, hangen
Erik: Waar is Peter? Sanne: Die zit z’n huiswerk te maken.
Erik: Where is Peter? Sanne: He is doing his homework.
Erik: En wat doet Karin? Sanne: Ze staat een cake te bakken.
Erik: And what’s Karin doing? Sanne: She is baking a cake.
Erik: Waar is mijn rode Sanne: Die hangt aan de lijn te drogen.
sportbroek?
Erik: Where are my red Sanne: They are drying on the line.
sports pants?
In these examples, the verbs zitten, staan and hangen indicate that Peter,
for instance, is actually sitting down while doing his homework, that
Karin is standing in the kitchen baking the cake, and the pants are in a
hanging position while drying.
The grammatical construction consists of one of the five verbs (zitten,
staan, lopen, liggen, hangen) combined with te and the infinitive of the
action described. Examples:
Erik zit een boek te lezen. Erik is reading a book.
Sanne loopt de hele dag te zingen. Sanne is singing all day.
Peter ligt in een strandstoel te slapen. Peter is sleeping in a beach
chair.