Breakdown of Welke taal is dit?
dit
this (neuter)
welke
which (for de-words and plural)
de taal
the language
Questions & Answers about Welke taal is dit?
Why do we use welke here instead of welk?
We use welke because taal is a de word (de taal). You only use welk with het words (for example, het boek becomes welk boek). For all de words and all plural words, always use welke.
Could I say wat taal is dit to mean "what language is this"?
No, in Dutch you cannot put wat (what) directly in front of a singular noun like that. Even if you might say "what language" in English, you are still asking "which one" out of a category of things. For that, you must always use welke or welk.
Since taal is a de word, why does the sentence end with dit instead of deze?
This is a very common trap! If you wanted to say "this language," it would indeed be deze taal. However, in this sentence, "this" is acting as a generic pointing word standing on its own ("Which language is this thing here?"). Whenever we point something out to identify it in Dutch, we default to the neutral words dit (this) or dat (that), no matter the gender of the noun.
Is the word order here exactly the same as in English?
Yes! Just like in English, the question phrase (welke taal) goes at the very beginning of the sentence. This is followed by the verb (is), and then the pointing pronoun (dit).
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