Breakdown of Wat hij wil oplossen, is het onrecht in de wereld.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
in
in
willen
to want
de wereld
the world
oplossen
to solve / to resolve
wat
that / which (relative)
het onrecht
the injustice
Questions & Answers about Wat hij wil oplossen, is het onrecht in de wereld.
How does the grammar of this 'Wat...' sentence work to emphasize his goal?
This is a pseudo-cleft sentence. By putting Wat hij wil oplossen at the beginning, we turn his action into the entire subject of the sentence. This creates suspense and places heavy emphasis on the complement that follows: het onrecht in de wereld.
Why are there two verbs back-to-back (oplossen, is) separated by a comma?
The entire first clause (Wat hij wil oplossen) acts as a single block taking up the first position in the main sentence. Because Dutch follows the verb-second (V2) rule in main clauses, the main verb (is) must come immediately after it. The comma helps visually separate the subordinate clause from the main verb.
Why is the word order hij wil oplossen instead of wil hij oplossen in the first part?
The phrase Wat hij wil oplossen is a subordinate clause introduced by the relative pronoun Wat. In Dutch subordinate clauses, the finite verb does not take the second position; instead, all verbs are pushed to the end. That is why the subject (hij) comes right after Wat, followed by the verbs (wil oplossen).
Why is it het onrecht rather than de onrecht?
Onrecht (injustice) is a neuter noun, so it takes the definite article het. In Dutch, words formed with a prefix like on- keep the gender of their root word. Since it is het recht (the right/the law), the negative form is het onrecht.
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