Dat document bevat alle regels.

that

Breakdown of Dat document bevat alle regels.

• de regel: the rule
• alle: all
• het document: the document

Questions & Answers about Dat document bevat alle regels.

What role does dat play in “Dat document bevat alle regels”? Is it a relative pronoun or something else?

Here dat is a demonstrative determiner (English “that”) modifying document (“that document”). It is not a relative pronoun, because a relative pronoun dat would introduce a clause and the verb for that clause would go to the end, e.g. Het document dat ik lees bevat alle regels.

Why is the verb bevat placed directly after dat document instead of later in the sentence?

Dutch follows the V2 (verb‐second) rule in main clauses: the finite verb must occupy the second position. Whatever you put first (here dat document) counts as the first slot, so bevat must come immediately after.

Why does bevat end with -t?

Since dat document is a third‐person singular subject, the present‐tense form of bevatten (“to contain”) takes -t for hij/zij/het. Hence het document bevat.

Why isn’t there an article like het or de before document?

A demonstrative determiner such as dat already specifies which document you mean, so you don’t add a definite article. Saying het document would mean “the document,” but dat document means “that document.”