Breakdown of Het was de leider die het rijk moest beschermen.
zijn
to be
het
it
moeten
to have to, must
beschermen
to protect
Questions & Answers about Het was de leider die het rijk moest beschermen.
Why is it die and not wie for "who" in this cleft sentence?
In Dutch cleft sentences, the second part is introduced by a normal relative pronoun. Because leider is a de-word, we use die. We only use wie (who) as a relative pronoun if it comes right after a preposition, like aan wie (to whom).
Why are the verbs moest beschermen pushed all the way to the end?
The word die introduces a relative clause, which is a type of subclause. In Dutch subclauses, all verbs get kicked to the very end of the sentence to form a verb cluster.
Is it possible to switch the order of the verbs and say beschermen moest?
Yes! When you have a modal verb like moest and an infinitive like beschermen at the end of a subclause, they can go in either order. Both moest beschermen and beschermen moest are entirely correct.
Why is "had to" translated as moest? Isn't that "must"?
Moest is the simple past tense of moeten (must / to have to). English doesn't have a past tense form for "must", so English speakers switch to "had to". In Dutch, you simply use the past tense of the modal verb.