Breakdown of Het was deze schilder die het meesterwerk creëerde.
zijn
to be
deze
this / these
het
it
die
who / that (relative pronoun)
de schilder
the painter
het meesterwerk
the masterpiece
creëren
to create
Questions & Answers about Het was deze schilder die het meesterwerk creëerde.
Why do we use die here instead of wie, since a painter is a person?
In English, we say "who" when referring to a person. However, in Dutch cleft sentences like this one, you use standard relative pronouns to point back to the emphasized noun. Because schilder is a de-word (de schilder), we use die. Using wie here is a very common mistake for English speakers, but it is incorrect!
Why does the verb creëerde have those two dots (a trema) on the ë?
The infinitive is creëren (to create). The trema shows that a new syllable starts at that e, preventing you from pronouncing the double 'e' as a single long sound (like in been). When we add the simple past ending -de, the trema stays exactly where it is: creëerde.
Why is creëerde placed at the very end of the sentence?
The word die introduces a relative clause. In Dutch, relative clauses always use subclause word order, meaning all verbs are pushed to the end. That is why the object (het meesterwerk) comes before the verb (creëerde).
If we were talking about multiple painters, would the start of the sentence still be Het was?
No, the verb would change to match the plural noun! Unlike English, which always says "It was...", Dutch makes the verb agree with the noun that follows. If it were multiple painters, you would say: Het waren deze schilders die... (the dummy subject het remains the same, but was becomes waren).
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