DIRECT OBJECT
You can find the direct object of a sentence by asking:
who/what + predicate + subject?
Examples
1. Hij maakt zijn huiswerk. (He is doing his homeworks.)
Wat maakt hij? (What is he doing?) => zijn huiswerk (his homework) => ’zijn huiswerk’ is the direct object.
2. De jongens gooiden sneeuwballen. (The boys threw snowballs.)
Wat gooiden de jongens? (What did the boys throw?)
=> sneeuwballen (snowballs) =>’sneeuwballen’ is the direct object
3. Ze waarschuwden hem niet op tijd. (They warned him just in time.)
Wie waarschuwden ze? (Who did they warn?) => hem (him)
’hem’ is the direct object.
Another way of finding the direct object is by making an active sentence passive. The direct object then becomes the subject of the sentence.You make the active sentence passive.
The active sentence is made passive by you.
A passive sentence itself never contains a direct object.