Breakdown of Dat commentaar is pure onzin.
het commentaar
the comment / the feedback
de onzin
the nonsense
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Questions & Answers about Dat commentaar is pure onzin.
Since this lesson is about niet dat (not that), how could I use it to soften this harsh statement?
You can use a niet dat clause to pre-emptively manage the listener's reaction before delivering the blunt truth. For example: Niet dat ik je wil beledigen, maar dat commentaar is pure onzin (Not that I want to insult you, but...). Remember that niet dat introduces a subordinate clause, pushing the verbs (wil beledigen) to the end.
Can commentaar be used as a countable plural here, like 'those comments'?
Generally, no. In Dutch, commentaar is mostly used as an uncountable noun meaning general 'criticism' or 'feedback'. If you want to refer to individual, countable remarks (like user comments on a website), you would use die reacties or die opmerkingen instead.
Why is it dat commentaar and not die commentaar?
Commentaar is a het word (het commentaar), so you must use the demonstrative pronoun dat for 'that'. English speakers often default to die for everything, but knowing a word's gender remains crucial for picking the correct pointing words.
Why does puur become pure before onzin?