Breakdown of Het hemd dat hij draagt, is dun maar toch warm.
zijn
to be
maar
but
hij
he
dat
that
warm
warm
toch
still
dragen
to wear
dun
thin
het hemd
the shirt
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Questions & Answers about Het hemd dat hij draagt, is dun maar toch warm.
Why is the article het used before hemd instead of de?
In Dutch, every noun is either a de-word or a het-word. Hemd (shirt) is neuter, so it takes the definite article het (singular). Common-gender (de-woorden) use de.
Why is dat used for the relative pronoun instead of die?
The relative pronoun agrees with the gender/number of its antecedent. Because hemd is a neuter singular noun, the correct relative pronoun is dat. If the noun had been a de-word (e.g., de jas), you would use die.
Why does the verb draagt come at the end in dat hij draagt?
Dutch subordinate clauses (including relative clauses introduced by dat) follow verb-final word order: the finite verb moves to the very end. So hij draagt (main-clause order) becomes dat hij draagt (subordinate-clause order).
Do I have to put a comma before is—as in dat hij draagt, is—and why?
Putting a comma before the main verb is not strictly mandatory, but it’s common when the subject is long (here a relative clause). It helps clarify where the long subject Het hemd dat hij draagt ends and the predicate is dun maar toch warm begins.
Why does the sentence use maar toch (but still)? Could I just say maar or toch?
Both maar (“but”) and toch (“still”/“yet”) express contrast. Using maar toch adds emphasis to the surprise that something thin can nevertheless be warm. You could say maar warm or toch warm, but maar toch warm sounds more emphatic and natural when highlighting a counter-intuitive quality.
Can I omit the relative pronoun dat and say Het hemd hij draagt is dun maar toch warm?
Spoken Dutch and informal writing sometimes drop dat in object relative clauses (where dat functions as the direct object of draagt). So you may hear Het hemd hij draagt is dun maar toch warm, but it’s considered colloquial. In formal writing, keep dat.
Why don’t the adjectives dun and warm have an -e ending?
These adjectives are used predicatively (after the verb is), so they remain uninflected. Only attributive adjectives (those directly before a noun) can take -e, and even then Dutch has special rules—e.g. adjectives before a singular indefinite het-word often stay without -e.
How would I rephrase the sentence using attributive adjectives, like Hij draagt een dun maar toch warm hemd?
That’s perfectly correct. You transform the clause into a simpler main clause:
• Hij draagt = he wears
• een dun maar toch warm hemd = a thin but still warm shirt
Because hemd is an indefinite singular het-word, the attributive adjectives dun and warm remain without -e: een dun maar toch warm hemd.