Dat nieuws brak echt mijn hart.

Both dat and dit can mean that/this, but they depend on distance or emphasis.

• dit nieuws = this news (closer, more immediate)
• dat nieuws = that news (farther away, or referring back to something already mentioned)

So Dat nieuws brak echt mijn hart usually means That news really broke my heart, referring to some specific news already known in the conversation.

Because nieuws is a het-word in Dutch: het nieuws.

For singular nouns:

• de-word → deze / die
• het-word → dit / dat

So:

• het nieuws
• dit nieuws
• dat nieuws

That is why die nieuws would be incorrect.

Because dat is already acting as the determiner.

Compare:

• het nieuws = the news
• dat nieuws = that news

You normally do not say dat het nieuws in this kind of sentence, because Dutch only needs one determiner here.

Grammatically, nieuws is treated as singular in Dutch, just like in English.

So you say:

• Het nieuws is slecht.
• Dat nieuws brak mijn hart.

Even though news may refer to many pieces of information, the word itself behaves like a singular mass noun.

Because breken is a strong verb, so its past tense changes vowel instead of adding -te or -de.

Principal forms:

• breken = to break
• brak = broke
• gebroken = broken

So:

• Hij brak het glas. = He broke the glass.
• Dat nieuws brak mijn hart. = That news broke my heart.

Breekte is not correct standard Dutch.

Echt means really here, and in Dutch adverbs like this often come after the finite verb.

So:

• Dat nieuws brak echt mijn hart.

This is very natural Dutch word order:

1. subject: Dat nieuws
2. finite verb: brak
3. adverb: echt
4. object: mijn hart

You could move echt for emphasis in some contexts, but this version is the most neutral and natural.

Yes. Echt can be:

• an adjective meaning real/genuine
  • een echte vriend = a real friend
• an adverb meaning really
  • Dat was echt mooi. = That was really beautiful.

In Dat nieuws brak echt mijn hart, it is an adverb, so it means really.

Yes, very much so. Dutch uses the same metaphor.

• Dat brak mijn hart.
• Het brak mijn hart om dat te horen.

It can be literal in very unusual contexts, but normally it is emotional/idiomatic, just like in English.

Mijn is the standard possessive form meaning my.

• mijn hart = my heart

You may hear m’n in speech or informal writing:

• Dat brak m’n hart.

Some dialects or very colloquial speech may have other forms, but for standard Dutch, learners should use mijn.

Yes. That is the present perfect form:

• Dat nieuws brak echt mijn hart. = simple past
• Dat nieuws heeft echt mijn hart gebroken. = present perfect

Both are correct. The difference is mostly about style and context:

• brak can feel more like a completed event in a narrative
• heeft gebroken often feels more connected to the present result

In everyday spoken Dutch, the perfect tense is very common, but the simple past is also perfectly normal here.

Yes, it is natural and correct.

It sounds emotional and clear. Depending on context, Dutch speakers might also say:

• Dat nieuws brak mijn hart.
• Dat brak echt mijn hart.
• Ik was er echt kapot van. = I was really devastated by it.

But your sentence is fully idiomatic.

Yes. Nieuws can mean:

• news as information in general
• the news as a news report or broadcast

Examples:

• Ik heb nieuws. = I have news.
• Ik kijk naar het nieuws. = I’m watching the news.

In Dat nieuws brak echt mijn hart, it most naturally means that piece of news / that information, not necessarily a TV program.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

daht neeuws brahk aykht mayn hart

A few notes:

• dat has a short a
• nieuws has a vowel sound that may be tricky; it is somewhat like neeuws, but not exactly English
• g in echt is the Dutch guttural sound, not an English g
• mijn sounds roughly like mine, though not exactly
• hart has a clear h and a short vowel

If pronunciation is important, nieuws and echt are the two words most learners usually need extra practice with.