datt

Faroese

Verb

datt

first/third-person singular past of detta

Icelandic

Verb

datt

first/third-person singular past indicative of detta

Luxembourgish

Alternative forms

daß (rare)
dass (see etymology and usage note)

Etymology

From Middle High German dat, from Old High German that, north-western variant of thaz, from Proto-Germanic *þat. Cognate with Central Franconian datt, German dass, Dutch dat, English that.

The split between Luxembourgish dat (pronoun) and datt (conjunction) is due to the fact that the latter is virtually never stressed, which prevented the otherwise regular lengthening (note that dat may also be pronounced with a short vowel in unstressed position). The byform dass does not directly continue Old High German thaz, but is actually from datt + s (2nd person singular ending), thus from a contraction datt s de → dass de (“that you”). Compare wann s de (“if you”), etc., and compare for the contraction has (“you had”) from underlying *haats. The subsequent generalisation of dass, however, was surely reinforced by the form dass in Standard German and in dialects to the south-east of Luxembourg.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /dat/, [dɑt]
Rhymes: -ɑt
Homophone: dat (optionally when unstressed)

Conjunction

datt

that
Mir sinn trauereg, datt eis Vakanz fäerdeg ass.
We are sad that our holiday is over.

Usage notes

The forms datt and dass are roughly equally common, now perhaps even with a slight predominance of the latter. The form datt is still felt as the more traditional Luxembourgish form, however, and is therefore prevalent in publications.

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

datt

past tense of dette

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

datt

past tense of detta

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German da.

Adverb

datt

Alternative form of dart (there).
- 2010, Earl C Haag, Pennsylvania German Reader and Grammar, page 86:
  Was mache denn die Nochbere datt driwwe?
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 2011, Peter Fritsch, Pennsylvania Dutch Halloween Scherenschnitte, page 62:
  […] datt drunne im Langschwammer Busch.
  […] over there in the Langschwammer Forest.

Swedish

Noun

datt c

Only used in ditt och datt (“this and that”)

Declension

Declension of datt
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	datt	datten	—	—
Genitive	datts	dattens	—	—

References