This, That, These, Those: Deze, Dit, Die, Dat (A1) | Dutch Grammar

English has four pointing words — this, that, these, those — and they split on one thing only: singular versus plural. Dutch also has exactly four — deze, dit, die, dat — but they split on two things at once, and that is the whole challenge of this page. You have to choose for distance (this vs that) and for the gender of the noun (de-word vs het-word). Once you can do both choices in one breath, this corner of Dutch becomes completely mechanical.

The four words and the two choices

There are two questions to answer before you point at something:

Near or far? Near (this/these) gives you a word starting with de- or di- in the "this" group. Far (that/those) gives you a word starting with di- or da- in the "that" group.
De-word or het-word? This decides which member of the pair you take.

Here is the entire system in one grid:

	de-word (singular) + ALL plurals	het-word (singular)
this / these (near)	deze — deze man, deze auto, deze huizen	dit — dit huis, dit boek
that / those (far)	die — die man, die auto, die huizen	dat — dat huis, dat boek

Read the grid as two simple rules. Near = deze/dit, far = die/dat. And within each, deze/die go with de-words and all plurals; dit/dat go with singular het-words. That second split is not new information — it is exactly the de/het gender split you already use for the article. De man takes deze/die; het huis takes dit/dat. The demonstrative just inherits the gender of its noun.

Deze man ken ik niet.

I don't know this man. (de man → de-word → deze)

Dit huis staat al een jaar te koop.

This house has been up for sale for a year. (het huis → het-word → dit)

Die auto rijdt veel te hard.

That car is driving way too fast. (de auto → de-word → die)

Dat boek moet je echt lezen.

You really have to read that book. (het boek → het-word → dat)

💡

The trick is to remember the het-word forms, because they're the minority: dit and dat. Both end in -t, just like het itself. If you can lock in "het-words take dit/dat," then everything else — de-words and plurals — defaults to deze/die.

Building it step by step

Let's drill the procedure. Take a noun, ask the two questions, pick the word.

die auto? "auto" is a de-word, and we mean the far one → die auto.
this house? "huis" is a het-word, near → dit huis.
that book? "boek" is a het-word, far → dat boek.
this woman? "vrouw" is a de-word, near → deze vrouw.

Ik wil deze, niet die.

I want this one, not that one. (near = deze, far = die)

Mag ik dit even lenen?

Can I borrow this for a moment? (dit pointing at a het-word thing)

Wat kost die jas in de etalage?

How much is that coat in the shop window? (de jas → die)

In the plural, the gender split disappears

Here is the part that quietly makes your life easier. Every plural noun behaves like a de-word, no matter what its singular gender was. So in the plural you only ever use deze (these) or die (those) — there is no plural dit or dat in front of a noun.

This is genuinely freeing: a het-word like huis takes dit in the singular, but its plural de huizen is a de-phrase, so it takes deze.

dit huis → deze huizen

this house → these houses. (het-word goes from 'dit' in the singular to 'deze' in the plural)

dat kind → die kinderen

that child → those children. ('dat' singular, 'die' plural)

Deze schoenen zijn nieuw, maar die daar zijn al oud.

These shoes are new, but those over there are already old. (both plural → deze and die)

So you only ever reach for dit or dat when the noun is singular AND a het-word. In every other case — singular de-word, or any plural at all — it is deze or die. That shrinks the whole "which one?" problem down to a single quadrant.

Near and far, the everyday way

The deze/dit (near) versus die/dat (far) contrast lines up with English this/that. Dutch speakers often back it up with hier ("here") for the near forms and daar ("there") for the far forms — exactly as English adds "here/there." That pairing is a handy clue to which one you want.

Deze hier is van mij, die daar is van jou.

This one here is mine, that one there is yours.

Geef mij die pen daar even aan.

Hand me that pen over there for a sec.

Common Mistakes

❌ dit man

Incorrect — 'man' is a de-word, so 'this' is 'deze', not 'dit': deze man.

✅ deze man

this man

❌ deze huis

Incorrect — 'huis' is a het-word, so 'this' is 'dit': dit huis. 'deze' is only for de-words and plurals.

✅ dit huis

this house

❌ dat auto

Incorrect — 'auto' is a de-word, so 'that' is 'die': die auto. 'dat' is only for het-words.

✅ die auto

that car

❌ dit kinderen

Incorrect — in the plural the het-forms vanish; always use 'deze'/'die': deze kinderen.

✅ deze kinderen

these children

❌ dat huizen

Incorrect — 'huizen' is plural, so use 'die', not 'dat': die huizen. Every plural is treated like a de-word.

✅ die huizen

those houses

Key Takeaways

Two choices every time: near or far (deze/dit vs die/dat) and de-word or het-word (deze/die vs dit/dat).
deze/die go with de-words and ALL plurals; dit/dat go with singular het-words only.
The de/het split here is just the article split you already know — de man → deze/die, het huis → dit/dat.
In the plural the gender split disappears: always deze or die.
Remember the minority forms — dit/dat for het-words — and everything else falls into place as deze/die.

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