Pointing out the culprit
When you want to highlight exactly who or what is responsible for an action—like pointing out which pet caused a mess—you can use a cleft sentence. This splits a standard sentence into two parts to add emphasis, similar to saying "It is [the culprit] who [does the action]."
| the culprit | de schuldige |
In Dutch, this emphasis structure always starts with Het is... (It is...). To connect this to the rest of the sentence, you must use a relative pronoun.
'De' words use 'die'
The relative pronoun you choose depends on the gender of the noun you are emphasizing. If the highlighted noun is a de word (which includes most animals, like de hond, de kat, or de hamster), use the pronoun die.
| It is the hamster that is very mischievous. | Het is de hamster die erg ondeugend is. |
| It is the bird that knocks over the plant, so he is the culprit. | Het is de vogel die de plant omgooit, dus hij is de schuldige. |
'Het' words use 'dat'
If you are pointing the finger at a neuter het word (such as het konijn or het dier), use the relative pronoun dat instead.
| It is the rabbit that tears up the letter. | Het is het konijn dat de brief verscheurt. |
| It is the mischievous animal that grabs the cord. | Het is het ondeugende dier dat het snoer pakt. |
Word order for the action
Notice what happens to the verbs after die or dat. Because the second half of the sentence is a relative clause, it follows subordinate word order. This means the conjugated verb is pushed to the end of the clause.
| It is the hamster that bites into the cord. | Het is de hamster die in het snoer bijt. |
| It is the dog that scratches at the door and tears up the book. | Het is de hond die aan de deur krabt en het boek verscheurt. |