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17
Relative
clauses
116
Alles wat je hier ziet, moet in de verhuiswagen.
Everything you see here, has to go into the moving truck.
Er is niets wat Erik niet lekker vindt.
There’s nothing that Erik doesn’t like to eat.
Er is veel wat ik nog moet leren.
There is much for me to learn yet.
Wat after superlatives
The relative pronoun wat also follows superlatives of adjectives with het
in a general meaning, without a noun. Examples:
Dat was het leukste wat hij ooit tegen me gezegd heeft.
That was the nicest thing he has ever said to me.
Dat is wel het stomste wat je in zo’n geval kunt doen.
That’s the stupidest thing you can do in such a case.
The relative pronoun referring to persons
There is sometimes confusion among learners of Dutch regarding the
question of when to use wie when referring to people, and when to use
die. Therefore, a summary:
The relative pronoun die is used when the person referred to is the
subject or the direct object of the relative clause. Examples:
1 De schrijver die in 2005 het boekenweekgeschenk geschreven heeft,
heet Jan Wolkers.
The writer who wrote the book week gift in 2005, is Jan Wolkers.
In sentence 1 the relative pronoun is the subject of the sentence.
2 De schrijver die ik een paar jaar geleden in De Balie heb gezien,
heet Jan Wolkers.
The writer whom I saw in De Balie a few years ago, is Jan Wolkers.
In sentence 2 the relative pronoun is the object of the sentence, because
ik is the subject.
The relative pronoun wie is used when the person referred to is the
indirect object or the object of a preposition in the relative clause.
Examples: