Breakdown of De raadslieden zijn degenen die het contract beoordelen.
zijn
to be
het contract
the contract
die
who / that (relative pronoun)
degene
the one (who)
Questions & Answers about De raadslieden zijn degenen die het contract beoordelen.
What is the singular form of raadslieden, and could I use raadslui here instead?
The singular is raadsman (legal counsel or advisor). While many words ending in -man can change to either -lieden or -lui in the plural, formal and esteemed professions usually stick to the more formal -lieden. Therefore, raadslieden is the standard, and you will rarely ever see "raadslui".
Why does degenen end in an "-n" here?
Degene means "the one" and is used for singular people. Because we are talking about multiple counsels in this sentence, we need the plural form "the ones". In Dutch, when this pronoun refers to plural people, it takes an -n at the end to become degenen.
Why do we use the relative pronoun die instead of dat?
Die points back to degenen, which in turn refers to the plural raadslieden. In Dutch, you use die to refer back to de-words and all plural nouns. You only use dat to refer back to singular het-words.
Why is the verb beoordelen placed at the very end of the sentence?
The phrase die het contract beoordelen is a relative clause (a type of subclause). In Dutch subclauses, the verb always gets pushed to the end.