Breakdown of Dat is een moeilijk gesprek.
zijn
to be
een
a/an
dat
that (het-words)
moeilijk
difficult
het gesprek
the conversation
Questions & Answers about Dat is een moeilijk gesprek.
Why doesn't moeilijk have an -e at the end?
This is the special rule for het words! When you describe a singular het word (like gesprek) and use een (a) in front of it, the adjective does not get an -e added to it. If it had been a de word, it would have been een moeilijke.
Is there a trick to knowing that gesprek is a het word?
Yes! Many Dutch nouns that start with the prefix ge- (like gesprek, which means conversation) are het words. Furthermore, just looking at this sentence, the fact that moeilijk has no -e after een is a guarantee that gesprek must be a het word.
Why does the sentence start with Dat instead of Die?
Because gesprek is a het word, and het words use dat to mean 'that'. As a bonus tip: whenever you introduce or point something out using the phrase 'That is a...', Dutch always defaults to Dat is een... regardless of the noun's gender.
How do you pronounce the end of the word moeilijk?
The common Dutch adjective suffix -lijk is actually pronounced like 'luhk'. The ij here makes a short, relaxed 'uh' sound instead of its usual sound. So moeilijk sounds roughly like 'MOO-ee-luhk'.
Learn Dat is een moeilijk gesprek and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free