Breakdown of Is dat het paleis dat de burgemeester bezoekt?
zijn
to be
bezoeken
to visit
dat
that (het-words)
de burgemeester
the mayor
dat
that/which (relative pronoun)
het paleis
the palace
Questions & Answers about Is dat het paleis dat de burgemeester bezoekt?
Why does the word dat appear twice in this sentence?
They are actually two different types of words playing different roles. The first dat is a demonstrative pronoun pointing at something ("that thing over there"). The second dat is a relative pronoun used to connect the two parts of the sentence, translating to "the palace that the mayor is visiting".
How do I know to use dat instead of die for the second "that"?
You look at the noun it refers back to. Because paleis is a het-word (het paleis), you must use dat. If it were a de-word, like de kerk (the church), you would use die instead, like this: de kerk die de burgemeester bezoekt.
Why does the verb bezoekt go at the very end of the sentence?
The second part of the sentence (dat de burgemeester bezoekt) is a relative clause describing the palace. In Dutch, relative clauses act like subclauses, which means they use "verb-final" word order. Any verbs in this part of the sentence get pushed to the very end.
Could I drop the second dat like we often drop "that" in English?
No, in Dutch you cannot skip the relative pronoun. You must always include dat (or die) to connect the clauses, even though English allows you to take a shortcut and just say "Is that the palace the mayor is visiting?".
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