Putting a verb form first: Verwacht wordt dat ... and Werken moet je

Dutch can put a non-finite verb form in the first position: Verwacht wordt dat de wachttijd afneemt. (It is expected that the waiting time will decrease.). Verwacht belongs to the passive verb phrase, while the finite verb wordt keeps second position.

Move the chosen participle, infinitive, or larger verbal phrase into the first position, then place the finite auxiliary or modal directly after that first constituent.

1. Identify the non-finite form in the ordinary sentence: verwacht in Er wordt verwacht dat ... or werken in Je moet werken.
2. Choose the verbal material that will fill the first position. A complete phrase such as de aanvraag opnieuw beoordelen can count as one constituent.
3. Put the finite verb second: Verwacht wordt ... and Werken moet je ....
4. Place the subject or er after the finite verb when it is expressed, and leave a heavy dat-clause at the end.

The fronted material occupies one first-position slot even when it contains several words. The verb-second rule still places the finite verb immediately after that constituent.

Journalistic and official Dutch often fronts a passive participle in an impersonal report; the pattern corresponds to a sentence with initial er and keeps the heavier clause or complement at the end.

The opening participle is not an adjective or the sentence's subject. It joins wordt or werd to form the passive expression, while a following dat-clause can supply the grammatical subject. The impersonal passive and impersonal er pages cover those systems.

Outside the conventional reporting pattern, verb-form fronting is marked by context and information structure: it presents the verbal idea as known, as a topic, or as one side of a contrast.

Contrastive participle fronting depends on spoken stress. In writing, an accent can make that reading visible: Gezíen hebben we elkaar wel, maar niet gesproken. Use ordinary order when no contrast or topic has been established.

A complement can travel with the verb form when the words make one useful topic: De wachtruimte schilderen wil de gemeente volgend jaar. Dutch also allows smaller verbal material to be fronted in a suitable context. The choice depends on what is already known and what the sentence presents as new, so it is not a rule that every object must travel or must stay behind.

Bare infinitives are the common infinitive type here, and infinitive fronting is less frequent than participle fronting. Dutch also permits some fronted te-infinitives and aan het + infinitive phrases. This page therefore does not turn the common bare pattern into a ban on those documented variants.

• Recognise Verwacht wordt dat ... and similar passive openings in news, reports, and decisions.
• Use the impersonal reporting pattern when that formal register fits; use initial er for a more neutral version.
• Use participle or infinitive fronting to continue an established topic or mark a clear contrast.
• Keep ordinary order when the verb has no discourse link that would motivate the marked first position.

• Keep the finite verb second after the fronted verbal constituent: write Verwacht wordt dat ..., not Verwacht dat ... wordt.
• Do not parse the opening past participle in Aangenomen wordt dat ... as an adjective. It belongs with the passive auxiliary.
• Do not count each word of de aanvraag opnieuw beoordelen as a separate first-position slot. The complete infinitival phrase is one constituent.
• Do not use this page to choose an order inside a final verb cluster. Fronting changes the first position; it does not teach cluster-internal order.

Review ordinary fronting and inversion, the verb-second rule, and the passive voice. The page on impersonal er explains the neutral counterpart of the reporting pattern.