Breakdown of Alles wat hij heeft meegebracht, past op één tafel.
hebben
to have
hij
he
de tafel
the table
één
one
alles
everything
wat
what
op
on
passen
to fit
meebrengen
to bring along
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Questions & Answers about Alles wat hij heeft meegebracht, past op één tafel.
What is the function of wat in Alles wat hij heeft meegebracht?
Wat here is a relative pronoun. It connects the noun alles (“everything”) to the clause hij heeft meegebracht (“he has brought along”). In English you’d say “everything that he has brought along.” In Dutch, wat replaces “that” or “which” when you refer back to a superlative or an indefinite pronoun like alles, niets, veel, etc.
Why is the auxiliary heeft placed right after hij instead of at the end of the clause?
Because this is a relative clause introduced by a relative pronoun (wat), not by a subordinating conjunction like dat. Relative clauses with wat, die or dat follow the normal V2 (verb-second) word order:
- Wat (relative pronoun)
- hij (subject)
- heeft (finite verb)
- meegebracht (past participle at the end)
If you had a subordinating conjunction like omdat, the finite verb would go to the very end.
Why is meegebracht at the end of the clause?
In Dutch, non-finite verb parts (past participles or infinitives) go to the end of their clause. Here meegebracht is the past participle of meebrengen (“to bring along”), so it must follow all other elements in that clause.
Why is there a comma before past?
The clause Alles wat hij heeft meegebracht functions as a long subject before the main verb past. In Dutch, when your main clause follows a long or complex clause, you insert a comma to signal the switch back to the main clause.
What does past mean here, and why is it in the present tense?
Past is the third-person singular present form of passen, which can mean “to fit.” So past here means “fits.” It’s in the present tense because you’re stating a general fact: “Everything he has brought along fits on one table.”
Why do we say op één tafel instead of op een tafel?
Using één (with an accent) emphasizes that it really is just one table—no more. Een without the accent is the indefinite article “a” or “an,” whereas één specifically means “one.”
Could we use op de tafel instead of op één tafel?
You could say op de tafel if you have a specific, known table in mind: “fits on the table (we were talking about).” But op één tafel stresses that all items fit on a single table, any table, as long as it’s only one.
Why is Alles wat hij heeft meegebracht acting as the subject for past rather than an object?
In Alles wat hij heeft meegebracht, past op één tafel, the entire clause Alles wat hij heeft meegebracht is what “fits.” It answers the question “What fits on one table?” So it functions grammatically as the subject. If you tried to treat it as an object, the sentence would need a different verb structure (e.g., “Hij past alles wat hij heeft meegebracht op één tafel” is ungrammatical in Dutch).