Breakdown of We reiken het certificaat uit aan degene die wint.
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
winnen
to win
die
who / that (relative pronoun)
aan
to (recipient)
Questions & Answers about We reiken het certificaat uit aan degene die wint.
How does degene die work here, and can I just say de persoon die?
The word degene means 'the one' and is specifically used for people. It is almost always paired with the relative pronoun die ('who' or 'that'). You could say de persoon die (the person who), but degene die is the standard, natural way to express 'the one who' in Dutch.
Why are reiken and uit separated in this sentence?
They come from the separable verb uitreiken (to hand out or award). In a main clause, the conjugated verb (reiken) takes the second position, while the prefix (uit) moves to the end of that main clause block, right before the prepositional phrase begins.
Is the preposition aan required before degene?
Yes. Just like in English where you hand a certificate out 'to' someone, the Dutch verb uitreiken uses the preposition aan to indicate the receiver.
Why does wint go at the very end of the sentence?
The phrase die wint (who wins) is a relative clause. In Dutch, relative clauses use subclause word order, which means the working verb (wint) is pushed to the very end of the clause.