Questions & Answers about Die jas is van mijn zus.
Why does the Dutch sentence use van to say "my sister's"?
In Dutch, possession is usually shown by using the preposition van (which means "of"). Instead of using an apostrophe-s like in English, you literally say that the coat is "of my sister".
Why is it die jas and not dat jas for "that coat"?
The word you use for "that" depends on the gender of the noun. Because jas is a de-word (de jas), you must use die. If you were talking about a het-word, like het boek (the book), you would use dat (dat boek).
Could I also phrase this as Dat is de jas van mijn zus?
Yes, you can! Both are perfectly correct. Saying Die jas is van mijn zus translates to "That coat is my sister's", which puts the focus on the specific coat. Saying Dat is de jas van mijn zus means "That is my sister's coat", which is just a slightly different way to point it out.
I've sometimes heard Dutch people say things like mijn zus haar jas. Is that the same thing?
Yes! In everyday spoken Dutch, people often show possession by saying the person, a possessive pronoun, and then the object, like mijn zus haar jas (literally "my sister her coat"). However, using van is the standard way to learn first because it is always correct in both speaking and writing.