Learn Dutch
C2 · Word order

Emphasis and cleft sentences

Het is … dat, Wat … is and inversion for stress.

  1. It was in 1931 that he came to Amsterdam.
  2. It was the mayor who resigned, not the minister.
  3. What he wanted was to say nothing at all.
  4. It was only after the vote that the mistake became visible.
  5. What I object to is the way he speaks about his staff.
  6. It was the absence of a signature that made the document worthless.
  7. Never before had the museum shown so many visitors.
  8. Seldom has a minister resigned so abruptly.
  9. Only the second copy was still legible.
  10. Rarely had a first novel been so widely discussed.
  11. There the matter rested, said the chairman, and adjourned the meeting.
  12. Thus it was that the collection found its way to the museum.