When the logical subject of a sentence is itself a whole clause — that you are here, to explain this — Afrikaans does not park that heavy clause at the front. Instead it puts a lightweight placeholder, dit, in the subject slot and sends the real content to the end: Dit is goed dat jy hier is (It is good that you are here). The dit points forward to the clause that follows — a cataphoric, or anticipatory, use — and the heavy clause is said to be extraposed, moved to the tail of the sentence. This is the everyday, standard way to handle a clausal subject in Afrikaans, and it lines up almost perfectly with English anticipatory "it". The trick for learners is to trust the placeholder and resist fronting the heavy clause.
The basic pattern: dit ... dat / om te
In its simplest form the structure is dit + linking verb + evaluation + [extraposed clause]. The extraposed clause is introduced either by dat (a finite "that" clause) or by om te (an infinitival "to" clause). The dit is an empty placeholder — it has no referent of its own; it merely holds the subject position open until the real subject arrives at the end.
Dit is goed dat jy hier is.
It's good that you are here.
Dit is lekker om te swem.
It's nice to swim.
Dit is jammer dat jy nie kan kom nie.
It's a pity that you can't come.
In Dit is lekker om te swem, the dit stands in for the whole idea om te swem (to swim). You could, in principle, paraphrase it as Om te swem is lekker — but in natural Afrikaans the dit version is overwhelmingly preferred, because it keeps the bulky om te-clause out of the cramped front field and lets it breathe at the end.
With evaluative predicates: dit verbaas my dat...
The construction is especially common with evaluative predicates — verbs and adjectives that judge or react to a situation: verbaas (surprises), verras (surprises/astonishes), spyt (regret), help (helps), and adjectives like moeilik (difficult), belangrik (important), duidelik (clear). Here dit is the placeholder subject and the reacting person is often an object (my, hom), with the triggering clause extraposed.
Dit verbaas my dat hy kom.
It surprises me that he's coming.
Dit verras my dat sy gewen het.
It astonishes me that she won.
Dit help nie om te kla nie.
It doesn't help to complain.
Dit is belangrik dat almal betyds opdaag.
It's important that everyone shows up on time.
The pattern scales smoothly: the front stays light (Dit verbaas my, Dit is belangrik), and however long and complex the real subject is, it waits at the end where there is room for it.
dat-clause vs om te-clause: which to extrapose
The choice between a dat-clause and an om te-clause mirrors the difference between a finite statement and an infinitival action, and it follows the same logic as elsewhere in the grammar (see om te clauses).
| Extraposed with | When | Example |
|---|---|---|
| dat (finite) | the content is a full proposition with its own subject | Dit is goed dat jy hier is. |
| om te (infinitival) | the content is an action, subject understood or general | Dit is moeilik om dit te verduidelik. |
Dit is moeilik om dit te verduidelik.
It's difficult to explain it.
Dit was dom om soveel geld te leen.
It was foolish to borrow so much money.
When there is a distinct doer to name, you reach for dat (dat jy hier is); when the action is general or its subject is recoverable from context, om te is the natural fit (om dit te verduidelik).
Why Afrikaans avoids fronting the heavy clause
This is the heart of the matter, and where English speakers' instincts actually help. English also says "It's good that you're here," not the clunky "That you're here is good." The shared reason is a deep processing preference called end-weight: languages like to put short, light material first and long, heavy material last. A full clause is heavy; the front of a sentence is a tight space already busy with word-order rules. So both languages use a dummy subject — dit / "it" — to fill the front lightly and defer the weight. The general principle is treated on extraposition; anticipatory dit is simply its most common everyday face.
Anticipatory dit vs. impersonal dit and daar
Keep this dit separate from two look-alikes. Impersonal dit appears with weather and time and points to nothing at all — Dit reën (It's raining), Dit is laat (It's late); there is no extraposed clause behind it. And presentational daar (there) introduces existence of an indefinite thing — Daar is 'n probleem (There is a problem). Anticipatory dit, by contrast, always has a clause waiting at the end that it stands in for. The full contrast lives on impersonal dit and daar.
Dit reën — daar is geen dat-sin hier nie.
It's raining — there's no that-clause here.
Dit is duidelik dat hulle nie gereed is nie.
It's clear that they aren't ready.
Common mistakes
❌ Dat jy hier is, is goed.
Awkward — fronting the heavy clause is grammatical but unnatural; use anticipatory dit.
✅ Dit is goed dat jy hier is.
It's good that you are here.
❌ Is goed dat jy hier is.
Incorrect — Afrikaans needs an overt placeholder subject; you can't drop dit the way some languages drop 'it'.
✅ Dit is goed dat jy hier is.
It's good that you are here.
❌ Dit is lekker dat swem.
Incorrect — an action needs an om te-clause, not a bare dat.
✅ Dit is lekker om te swem.
It's nice to swim.
❌ Dit verbaas my dat hy kom nie.
Incorrect — the dat-clause is positive ('that he is coming'); no negation belongs here.
✅ Dit verbaas my dat hy kom.
It surprises me that he's coming.
❌ Daar is goed dat jy hier is.
Incorrect — anticipatory placeholder is dit, not daar; daar is for existence, not extraposed clauses.
✅ Dit is goed dat jy hier is.
It's good that you are here.
Key takeaways
- Afrikaans expresses a clausal subject with anticipatory dit in the front slot and the heavy clause extraposed to the end.
- The extraposed clause is introduced by dat (finite proposition) or om te (infinitival action).
- The pattern is the default with evaluative predicates: Dit verbaas my dat..., Dit is moeilik om....
- The driver is end-weight — keep the front light, defer the heavy clause — exactly as in English anticipatory "it".
- Distinguish it from impersonal dit (weather/time, no clause) and presentational daar (existence); see impersonal dit and daar.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Impersonal Constructions: dit and daarB2 — Afrikaans uses dummy dit for weather, time and evaluation (dit reën, dit is laat) and existential daar for 'there is/are' (daar is) — with daar is invariant for number.
- Extraposition and Heavy ClausesC1 — Why heavy subordinate clauses move to the right of the verb bracket in Afrikaans — the rule that explains the real shape of complex sentences.
- The Pronoun dit: it, this, thatA2 — Afrikaans dit is the all-purpose 'it' — subject and object of things, a dummy subject in weather and time phrases, a pointer back to whole ideas, and the source of the contraction dis.
- Infinitival Clauses: om teA2 — The om te + infinitive clause — Afrikaans's standard 'in order to' and infinitive complement — where om opens the clause and te clings to the infinitive at the very end, bracketing everything in between.
- Subordinate Clauses: Verb to the EndA2 — In an Afrikaans subordinate clause the finite verb moves to the very end — the single biggest word-order adjustment English speakers have to make.