Breakdown of De dag dat de onvergetelijke trouwdag was gepland, is hem goed bijgebleven.
zijn
to be
de dag
the day
goed
good
hem
him
dat
that/which (relative pronoun)
plannen
to plan
onvergetelijk
unforgettable
de trouwdag
the wedding day
bijblijven
to stay with (someone) / to remember
Questions & Answers about De dag dat de onvergetelijke trouwdag was gepland, is hem goed bijgebleven.
Why use dat after De dag instead of die or waarop?
In Dutch, dat is often used as a temporal relative pronoun to refer back to words indicating time (like de dag, het moment, de maand). It serves as a natural, everyday replacement for the more formal prepositional adverbs like waarop (on which) or waarin (in which). Notice that even though dag is a de-word (which usually takes the relative pronoun die), we use dat here because it acts as a time marker, meaning 'when'.
How does the verb bijblijven work in this sentence, and why does it use is instead of heeft?
The verb bijblijven (to stay with / to linger in one's memory) is a separable verb that expresses a state, so it uses zijn as its auxiliary verb in the perfect tenses, not hebben. It also takes an indirect object to show who is remembering. Here, hem is the indirect object, meaning the day 'has stayed with him'.
Why is the passive voice written as was gepland rather than werd gepland?
We use was here because this is the past perfect passive, indicating a completed state. If we used werd gepland (simple past passive), it would mean the actual planning was taking place exactly on that day. By using was gepland, it shows that the wedding had already been fully planned by the time that day occurred.
What is the subject of the sentence, and why does is appear right after the comma?
The subject of the sentence is the entire phrase before the comma: De dag dat de onvergetelijke trouwdag was gepland. Because this entire block acts as the subject (occupying the first position in the main clause), the conjugated main verb is must immediately follow it to satisfy the verb-second rule in Dutch main clauses.
Learn De dag dat de onvergetelijke trouwdag was gepland, is hem goed bijgebleven and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free