Breakdown of Die glijbaan is alles wat de speelplaats leuk maakt.
zijn
to be
maken
to make
leuk
nice / fun
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
alles
everything
wat
that / which (relative)
de speelplaats
the playground
de glijbaan
the slide
Questions & Answers about Die glijbaan is alles wat de speelplaats leuk maakt.
Why does the sentence use alles wat instead of alles dat for "everything that"?
In Dutch, when you refer back to an indefinite pronoun like alles (everything), iets (something), or niets (nothing), you must always use the relative pronoun wat. Using dat or die in this situation is grammatically incorrect.
Why is the verb maakt at the very end of the sentence?
The word wat introduces a relative clause, which functions as a subordinate clause. In Dutch subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb (in this case, maakt) gets pushed all the way to the end of the clause.
Could I say wat maakt de speelplaats leuk instead?
No, because that uses main clause word order, which keeps the verb in the second position. Since this is a subordinate clause, the verb must come after both the direct object (de speelplaats) and the adjective complement (leuk), resulting in wat de speelplaats leuk maakt.
Why is leuk used here instead of plezier for "fun"?
Plezier is a noun meaning "pleasure" or "fun" (used in phrases like veel plezier, meaning "have fun"). Because this sentence requires an adjective to describe the state of the playground, leuk (nice/fun) is the correct choice.
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