Breakdown of We zijn aan het opruimen, maar het is de aap die de stoel omgooit.
zijn
to be
maar
but
de stoel
the chair
het
it
Questions & Answers about We zijn aan het opruimen, maar het is de aap die de stoel omgooit.
Why use het is de aap die instead of just de aap gooit de stoel om?
This is called a cleft sentence. We use the structure het is ... die/dat to put strong emphasis on who or what is performing the action. In this case, it emphasizes that the monkey is the one knocking over the chair, in contrast to the people tidying up.
Why is the word die used here instead of dat?
You must choose between die and dat based on the noun you are emphasizing. Because aap is a de word (de aap), you use die. If you were emphasizing a het word, like het kind (the child), you would use dat instead.
Why is omgooit written as a single word at the end of the sentence?
The word omgooien (to knock over) is a separable verb. In a normal main clause, it splits up (for example: de aap gooit de stoel om). However, the part of the sentence starting with die is a relative clause, which pushes the verb to the end. When a separable verb is pushed to the end of a clause like this, its parts rejoin into a single word.
What is the purpose of aan het in the first part of the sentence?