Breakdown of Het percentage mensen dat in het park fietst is hoog.
zijn
to be
in
in
het park
the park
dat
that
de mens
the person
hoog
high
fietsen
to cycle
het percentage
the percentage
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Dutch grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Het percentage mensen dat in het park fietst is hoog.
Why is het percentage preceded by het and not de?
The noun percentage is a neuter noun in Dutch, which takes the definite article het in the singular. Neuter nouns never use de in the singular (you would say de percentages in the plural).
Why is the verb in the main clause is and not zijn?
The subject of the main clause is het percentage, which is singular, so it takes the singular verb is rather than the plural zijn.
Why do we say mensen without an article like de or een?
After a measure noun (like percentage) you often link directly to a bare plural noun to express “a proportion of people.” If you wanted to refer to a specific group of people you would add an article, for example het percentage van de mensen.
Why is there no van between percentage and mensen?
When using a measure noun to indicate proportion, Dutch allows you to drop van and go straight from the measure noun to the plural. If you insert van, you generally also add a definite article: het percentage van de mensen.
Why do we use dat instead of die for the relative clause?
Dutch relative pronouns agree with the head noun they refer to. Here the head noun is het percentage (singular, neuter), so we use dat. If the antecedent were a plural common-gender noun like mensen, we would use die.
Why is the verb fietst singular and placed at the end of the relative clause?
Because this is a subordinate (relative) clause introduced by dat, the finite verb must go to the end. And since dat refers back to het percentage (singular), the verb is also singular (fietst).
Can we omit the relative pronoun dat?
No. In Dutch you must include the relative pronoun in clauses like this. Omitting dat would make the sentence ungrammatical.
How can I rewrite the sentence with van de mensen die in het park fietsen, and what changes?
You can say: Het percentage van de mensen die in het park fietsen is hoog. Here van de mensen explicitly marks “of the people,” die now refers to mensen (plural), so you switch the verb to plural (fietsen), while the main verb remains is because the overall subject het percentage is still singular.
Can I move the prepositional phrase in het park to another position?
Yes. You can say either:
- Het percentage mensen dat in het park fietst is hoog.
- Het percentage mensen dat fietst in het park is hoog.
Just remember that in a subordinate clause the finite verb stays final.