Breakdown of De hoge hak, die los zit, is gevaarlijk.
zijn
to be
gevaarlijk
dangerous
hoog
high / tall
die
who / that (relative pronoun)
los
loose
de hak
the heel
zitten
to fit / be (in a state)
Questions & Answers about De hoge hak, die los zit, is gevaarlijk.
Why are there commas around die los zit, and how does it change the meaning?
This is a non-restrictive (uitbreidende) relative clause, which means it just adds extra information about an already identified high heel. The commas tell us this. If we removed the commas, it would become a restrictive (beperkende) clause, meaning 'The specific high heel that is loose is dangerous' (implying there are other high heels around, and we need to specify which one we are talking about).
Why do we use the relative pronoun die here instead of dat?
The relative pronoun points back to the noun before it, which is called the antecedent. Here, the antecedent is de hoge hak. Because hak is a de-word, we must use die. If we were adding a clause to a het-word, we would use dat.
Why does the verb zit come at the very end of the phrase die los zit?
A relative clause is a type of subordinate clause (bijzin). In Dutch subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb is always pushed to the end. The main sentence, De hoge hak is gevaarlijk, uses normal main-clause word order but is simply split in two to insert the relative clause.
Why use the verb zitten (los zit) instead of zijn (los is)?
While you could technically say die los is, Dutch heavily favors posture and position verbs like zitten (to sit) when talking about how clothes fit, how parts are attached, or how things are situated. For a heel that is coming detached from a shoe, the compound verb loszitten is the most natural choice.
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