If a clause does not have a subject, we use er or het. We use het for active sentences, er for passive sentences.
On this page, we will look at er as a placeholder for the subject. For het, I refer to het as a subject.
| Ze zingen.
| They sing.
| Er wordt gezongen.
| There is singing.
(lit: "there is sung")
|
| We praten.
| We talk.
| Er wordt gepraat.
| There is talking.
(lit: "there is talked")
|
Subject clause
Some sentences contain a 'subject clause', which means that the subject consists of an entire clause. We typically encounter this in passive sentences.
| Example
| Voice
| Subject
|
| Ze zeggen dat ze broers zijn.
| Active
| Ze
|
| They say that they are brothers.
| Active
| They
|
| Example
| Voice
| Subject
|
| Dat ze broers zijn wordt gezegd.
| Passive
| Dat ze broers zijn
|
| That they are brothers is being said.
| Passive
| That they are brothers
|
| Example
| Voice
| Subject
|
| "They say that they are brothers"
| Active
| They
|
| "That they are brothers is said"
| Passive
| "that they are brothers"
|
Now, the second sentence does not sound right, does it? Indeed, we do not like subclauses to behave like subjects. They should stay in their own clause, and we will invent a new subject for the main clause: Er for the Dutch sentence and 'it' for the English sentence.
| Example
| Voice
| Subject
|
| "Er wordt gezegd dat ze broers zijn"
| Passive
| Er
|
| "It is said (by them) that they are brothers"
| Passive
| It
|
Other examples:
| Er wordt vanuit gegaan dat ze dezelfde vader hebben.
| It is assumed that they have the same father.
|
| Er werd meegedeeld dat ze geen familie van elkaar waren.
| It was announced that they are not related to eachother.
|
Questions? 
