Breakdown of Het is het konijn dat de brief verscheurt.
zijn
to be
het
it
de brief
the letter
dat
that/which (relative pronoun)
het konijn
the rabbit
verscheuren
to tear up
Questions & Answers about Het is het konijn dat de brief verscheurt.
Why does this sentence use dat instead of die to say "that"?
In a cleft sentence, the linking word connects back to the emphasized noun. Because konijn is a het-word (a neuter noun), you must use the relative pronoun dat. If you were emphasizing a de-word, like de hond, you would use die.
Why is the verb verscheurt pushed to the very end?
The second half of a cleft sentence (dat de brief verscheurt) acts as a subclause. In Dutch, whenever you have a subclause, the conjugated verb gets pushed to the end of the sentence.
Is verscheurt a separable verb?
No, verscheuren (to tear up) is an inseparable verb. You can tell because it starts with the prefix ver-. Verbs starting with be-, ge-, er-, ont-, or ver- are never separable, so the prefix always stays attached.
In the phrase dat de brief verscheurt, is dat the subject or the object?
Here, dat is the subject. It stands in for het konijn, which is the one doing the action. De brief is the direct object being torn. In Dutch subclauses, the subject typically comes first after the linking word.
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