As I was browsing – again- on the internet, I noticed a little problem some people have with the Dutch language.

I’m talking about the pronouns dit/deze and die/dat. I think in English both pair of pronouns would be this/that. Of course, in Dutch we have common gender words and neuter gender words that’s why we have these two pairs of pronouns.

Dit/deze are words to describe items or circumstances which are close by. Die/dat are words to describe items or circumstances further away.

To make things a bit more confusing… dit/dat are the words used for neuter gender words (het) and deze/die are used for common gender words (de).

A few examples to make things a little more clear:

* Dit boek is nieuw en dat boek is oud.

This book is new and that book is old.

- ‘Boek’ uses the article ‘het’ because it’s a neuter gender word, hence ‘dit/dat’ -

* Deze man is jong en die man is oud.

This man is young en that man is old.

- ‘Man’ uses the article ‘de’ because it’s a common gender word, hence ‘deze/die’-

* Deze man woont in dat huis.

This man lives in that house.

-‘Man’ uses the article ‘de’, hence ‘deze’, house uses the article ‘het’ hence ‘dat’-

* Dit huis is van die man.

This house belongs to that man.

-‘House’ uses the article ‘de’, hence ‘dit’, ‘man’ uses the article ‘de’ hence ‘die’-

As you can see, deze/dit both mean ‘this’ and die/dat both mean ‘that’.