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The link verb
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This is an external web link, which will open a new browser window.Word order exercises   This is an external web link, which will open a new browser window.Wiki Dutch Word Order (EN)

English version by Bieneke Berendsen :: other languages
A link verb links a qualification to the subject. The most commonly used link verb is zijn in Dutch or 'to be' in English. It is easy to see how the link verb zijn connects the subject with a qualification:

Left Middle Right
---
Subject
link verb
Mijn opa
is
---
 timmerman ---
My grandpa
is
 ---
carpenter
---

In the above example, the complement (the qualification) is a noun. There are, however, other types of words that can qualify as complements, the most common being the adjective. In fact, with the exception of verbs, all words that are linked to the subject by a link verb are complements.

Just like in English, link verbs can generally be recognized by the possibility of adding 'to be', e.g. "he remains (to be) a lawyer", "he seems (to be) upset". The Dutch link verbs are:

blijken to appear raken to get, become
blijven to stay, remain schijnen to seem
dunken to seem voorkomen to appear
heten to be called worden to become
lijken to seem zijn to be

This is the list that most Dutch children are taught at school and perhaps you have seen it before yourself. You may have noticed that I added a verb to the traditional list: raken. This is a synonym for worden, and fully deserves to be mentioned in this list.
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