Breakdown of Het huis dat de vrouw nalaat, komt toe aan de erfgenaam.
de vrouw
the woman
het huis
the house
dat
that/which (relative pronoun)
nalaten
to bequeath / leave behind
toekomen aan
to belong to / accrue to
de erfgenaam
the heir
Questions & Answers about Het huis dat de vrouw nalaat, komt toe aan de erfgenaam.
How could we change this sentence to say 'Whatever the woman bequeaths...' using the grammar from this lesson?
You would replace the specific noun and relative pronoun Het huis dat with the universal inclusive pronoun al wat. The sentence would then be: Al wat de vrouw nalaat, komt toe aan de erfgenaam. We use al wat instead of al wie because we are referring to things (whatever) rather than people (whoever).
Why is the relative pronoun dat used here instead of die?
Huis is a neuter noun (a het-word). When you use a relative pronoun to refer back to a het-word, you must use dat. If the woman were leaving behind a de-word, like de auto, you would use die (for example, de auto die de vrouw nalaat).
The verb nalaten (to bequeath) is a separable verb. Why is it written as one joined word (nalaat) here?
In a standard main clause, nalaten separates (for example, Zij laat het huis na). However, dat de vrouw nalaat is a subclause introduced by the relative pronoun dat. In subclauses, verbs are pushed to the end, which forces the separable prefix (na) and the verb (laat) to attach back together.
Why does the verb komt appear immediately after the comma?
This is due to the Dutch V2 (verb-second) rule, which states that the conjugated verb must take the second position in a main clause. The entire preceding phrase, Het huis dat de vrouw nalaat, acts as a single block (the subject) occupying the first position. Therefore, the verb komt must immediately follow it.
How does the phrase komt toe aan work in this sentence?
The meaning "falls to" or "belongs to" comes from the separable verb toekomen combined with the preposition aan. Because this part of the sentence is a main clause, the verb separates: komt takes the second position, and the separable prefix toe moves later in the sentence, landing just before aan de erfgenaam.
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