Learn Dutch: Het kind was boos omdat het geen step had. - The child was angry because he didn't have a scooter.

The word omdat (because) introduces a subclause (a dependent part of the sentence). In Dutch, a subclause pushes the working verb to the very end of its clause. Since this lesson focuses on the simple past of hebben, you will often see had or hadden moved to the end like this after words like omdat or dat.

Why does the Dutch sentence say omdat het when the English translation says "because he"?

The pronoun het refers back to the noun het kind (the child). Because kind is a neuter noun (a "het-word"), the pronoun used to replace it in the second part of the sentence must also be het. While English defaults to "he", "she", or "they" for a child, Dutch strictly follows the noun's grammatical gender.

Is had used for all singular subjects in the past tense?

Yes! The simple past of hebben (to have) is very straightforward. You use had for all singular subjects (ik, jij, hij, zij, het) and hadden for all plural subjects (wij, jullie, zij). Since the subject here is het (referring to the singular child), we use had.

Why do we use instead of to say the child "didn't have" a scooter?