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A1
Lesson 5. Deze stoel of die? The words for “this” and “that”, and hier / daar
I can choose a thing in a store and at home — deze lamp hier or die lamp daar, dit bed or dat bed — and use the right word for the article and number.
This or that: deze, die, dit, dat
This or that: deze, die, dit, dat
To pick a thing — this one, close by, or that one, farther away — you need the words for “this” and “that”. They go before the noun and depend on its article.
With a de-word: deze (near) and die (far); with a het-word: dit and dat. English “this” and “that” change only for the plural; Dutch changes for the article. Every plural is a de-word, so plurals take only deze and die: dit boek — deze boeken.
hier or daar often comes along: deze stoel hier, die stoel daar.
After these words the adjective always takes -e: Dat mooie raam is nieuw.
Dit is … and Dat is … (“this is”, “that is”, as in module 1) never change, for a de-word or a person: Dit is mijn tas. Dit zijn mijn ouders — the same in the plural, where English says “these are”.
To ask which thing: welk and welke: Welke tas? — Deze tas.
Common mistakes:
• ×dit tafel → deze tafel.
• ×deze schrift → dit schrift.
• ×dit tassen → deze tassen.
• ×Deze is Sanne de Vries (when introducing someone) → Dit is Sanne de Vries.
• ×dat mooi raam → dat mooie raam.
The words for “this” and “that”
The choice depends on the word's article and on number: in the plural, only deze and die.
| Word | Near (hier) | Far (daar) |
|---|---|---|
| de stoel | deze stoel | die stoel |
| het boek | dit boek | dat boek |
| de boeken | deze boeken | die boeken |
Lesson notes
This or that: deze, die, dit, dat
To pick a thing — this one, close by, or that one, farther away — you need the words for “this” and “that”. They go before the noun and depend on its article.
With a de-word: deze (near) and die (far); with a het-word: dit and dat. English “this” and “that” change only for the plural; Dutch changes for the article. Every plural is a de-word, so plurals take only deze and die: dit boek — deze boeken.
hier or daar often comes along: deze stoel hier, die stoel daar.
After these words the adjective always takes -e: Dat mooie raam is nieuw.
Dit is … and Dat is … (“this is”, “that is”, as in module 1) never change, for a de-word or a person: Dit is mijn tas. Dit zijn mijn ouders — the same in the plural, where English says “these are”.
To ask which thing: welk and welke: Welke tas? — Deze tas.
Common mistakes:
• ×dit tafel → deze tafel.
• ×deze schrift → dit schrift.
• ×dit tassen → deze tassen.
• ×Deze is Sanne de Vries (when introducing someone) → Dit is Sanne de Vries.
• ×dat mooi raam → dat mooie raam.