Breakdown of Ik denk dat we dat stripboek niet hadden.
ik
I
niet
not
hebben
to have
dat
that (het-words)
denken
to think
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
dat
that (conjunction)
het stripboek
the comic book
Questions & Answers about Ik denk dat we dat stripboek niet hadden.
Why is the verb hadden used here instead of had?
Hadden is the plural past tense of hebben (to have). Because the subject of that part of the sentence is we (we), you must use the plural form. If the subject were singular (like ik or hij), you would use had.
Why does the verb hadden go at the very end of the sentence?
The word dat (that) introduces a sub-clause. In Dutch, sub-clauses use a special word order where the working verb gets pushed to the end. That is why it is ... dat we dat stripboek niet hadden instead of keeping the verb right after we.
Why are there two different uses of dat in this sentence?
They do two entirely different jobs! The first dat connects the two halves of the sentence (I think that...). The second dat points to a specific thing (...that comic book). Because stripboek is a neuter (het) word, it uses dat instead of die to say 'that'.
Why is niet placed right before hadden?
When negating a specific object (dat stripboek), the word niet usually comes immediately after it. In a main clause, niet might end up as the last word of the sentence, but because the sub-clause pushes the verb (hadden) to the very end, niet gets squeezed right in front of it.
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