Breakdown of Het panel dat op het podium zit, bespreekt de media.
zitten
to sit
op
on
bespreken
to discuss
dat
that/which (relative pronoun)
het podium
the stage
het medium
the medium
het panel
the panel
Questions & Answers about Het panel dat op het podium zit, bespreekt de media.
Is media singular or plural here?
Media is the plural form of the Latin loanword medium. In Dutch, classical loanwords ending in -um often take an -a ending in the plural. Because it is plural, it takes the definite article de.
The word podium ends in -um too. What is its plural form?
You actually have two options! You can use the classical Latin plural to make it podia, or you can use a standard Dutch ending to make it podiums. Both are perfectly correct and very common.
Why use dat instead of die to say "that"?
Dat is a relative pronoun connecting the extra information back to het panel. Because panel is a het-word, you have to use dat. If you were describing a de-word (like de groep), you would use die.
Could I say dat op het podium is instead of zit?
You would be understood, but it sounds unnatural. Dutch strongly prefers using posture verbs like zitten (to sit), staan (to stand), or liggen (to lie) instead of zijn (to be) to describe where something is located. Since a panel consists of people who are usually seated, zit is the natural choice.
Why does the main verb bespreekt come right after the comma?
The core of the sentence is Het panel bespreekt de media. The phrase dat op het podium zit is a relative clause inserted directly after the noun it describes. Once that interruption is over, the main sentence simply resumes exactly where it left off, which is right at the verb.
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