Breakdown of Dit is de bakker die het brood bakt.
zijn
to be
het brood
the bread
dit
this (neuter)
bakken
to fry / to bake
Questions & Answers about Dit is de bakker die het brood bakt.
Why does the sentence use die for "who" instead of wie?
In English, we use "who" for people and "that" or "which" for things. Dutch is simpler: it mostly just looks at the noun's article! For de-words (like de bakker) and all plural words, you always use the relative pronoun die. You generally only use wie after a preposition, like "the baker with whom I spoke" (de bakker met wie ik sprak).
Why is the verb bakt at the very end of the sentence?
The phrase die het brood bakt is a relative clause, which means it gives more information about the noun before it. Relative clauses are a type of subclause. In Dutch subclauses, the conjugated verb (bakt) is always pushed to the very end of the clause.
If de bakker is a de-word, why does the sentence start with Dit is instead of Deze is?
When you are pointing out or introducing someone or something with "This is..." or "These are...", Dutch always uses the fixed phrase Dit is or Dit zijn. You don't match the "this" to the gender of the noun that follows. You only use deze if it is directly attached to the noun, like in Deze bakker is goed (This baker is good).