Breakdown of Het is gelukkig een feit dat zij mijn mening begrijpt.
zijn
to be
zij
she
een
a/an
begrijpen
to understand
mijn
my
het
it
dat
that (conjunction)
gelukkig
fortunately
het feit
the fact
de mening
the opinion
Questions & Answers about Het is gelukkig een feit dat zij mijn mening begrijpt.
Why is begrijpt at the very end of the sentence?
The word dat (that) introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb is pushed all the way to the end. So instead of saying "that she understands my opinion", the Dutch structure is literally "that she my opinion understands" (dat zij mijn mening begrijpt).
The English translation starts with "Fortunately", but the Dutch sentence puts gelukkig in the middle. Why?
In Dutch, it is very common to place adverbs expressing a mood or opinion (like gelukkig) right after the conjugated verb in a main clause. You could actually start the sentence with it, but that would force the subject and verb to swap places (inversion): Gelukkig is het een feit...
Wait, doesn't gelukkig usually mean "happy"?
It does! When used as an adjective to describe a noun or person, gelukkig means "happy" (for example, een gelukkig kind means "a happy child"). However, when used as an adverb describing an entire situation like it is here, it translates to "fortunately" or "happily".
Since zij can mean "she" or "they", how do we know it means "she" here?
You can tell by looking at the verb at the end of the sentence. Begrijpt ends in -t, which is the singular conjugation for "she understands". If zij meant "they", the verb would take the plural form: dat zij mijn mening begrijpen.
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