Demonstratives: deze, die, dit, dat

The pointer words deze, die, dit, and dat are small, frequent, and easy to get wrong. They help you point to specific things (aanwijzen) and they hold your writing together. If you use the wrong one, it signals to the examiner that you haven't mastered Dutch noun genders.

Choose by gender and number

To choose the right demonstrative, you must first know if the noun is a de-woord or a het-woord.

For example, because it is de man, you say deze man (this man) or die man (that man). Because it is het huis, you say dit huis (this house) or dat huis (that house).

Why this matters for the exam

1. Schrijven (Writing): When you write an email about a move or a meeting, using dit straat instead of deze straat is a grammatical error that lowers your score.
2. Lezen (Reading): You will often see the word dat or die at the start of a sentence. It refers back to something in the previous sentence. You must be able to identify what that 'something' is to answer comprehension questions correctly.

The Reference Trap

In reading passages, Dutch writers use dat to refer to a whole situation or a het-woord.

• Het kantoor is gesloten. Dat is jammer. (The office is closed. That is a pity.) In this case, dat refers to the fact that the office is closed.