that

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See also That, and þat

Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

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From Old English þæt (neuter relative pronoun, definite article), from Proto-Germanic *þat. Compare Dutch dat, German das.

Pronunciation [edit]

Conjunction [edit]

that

  1. Connecting noun clause (as involving reported speech etc.); introducing a subordinate noun clause. [from 9th c.]
    He told me that the book is a good read.
  2. (archaic) Introducing a hypothetical fact or supposition: ‘given that’, ‘as would appear from the fact that’. [from 11th c.]
    • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors:
      What, are you mad, that you doe reason so?
    • circa 1911, D.H. Lawrence, third draft of what became Sons and Lovers, in Helen Baron (editor), Paul Morel, Cambridge University Press (2003), ISBN 978-0-521-56009-2, page 234:
      “She must be wonderfully fascinating,” said Mrs Morel, with scathing satire. “She must be very wonderful, that you should trail eight miles, backward and forward, after eight o’clock at night.”
  3. With antecedent so or such: introducing the result of the main clause. [from 11th c.]
    • 2008, Zoe Williams, The Guardian, 23 May 2008:
      My dad apparently always said that no child of his would ever be harassed for its poor eating habits, and then I arrived, and I was so disgusting that he revised his opinion.
  4. (archaic) Without any antecedent: so that. [from 12th c.]
    • 1714, Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, III.1:
      The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, and wretches hang that jurymen may dine.

Usage notes [edit]

  • That used to introduce a subordinate clause is often omitted—"He told me that it is a good read." could just as easily be "He told me it is a good read."

Translations [edit]

connecting noun clause
connecting clause indicating purpose
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Determiner [edit]

that (plural those)

  1. The (thing) being indicated (at a distance from the speaker, or previously mentioned, or at another time).
    That book is a good read.
    That battle was in 1450.

Translations [edit]

what is being indicated

Derived terms [edit]

Pronoun [edit]

that

  1. (demonstrative) That thing or person. [from 9th c.]
    • circa 1600, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act 3, Scene 1:
      To be, or not to be: that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them? […]
    • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 310:
      However […] , the British were unable to do much about it short of going to war with St Petersburg, and that the government was unwilling to do.
  2. (demonstrative) That aforementioned quality.
    The water is so cold! —That it is.
  3. (relative) Which, who. [from 9th c.]
    • 2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, Telegraph:
      His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott.

Antonyms [edit]

Translations [edit]

that thing
which

Usage notes [edit]

  • Many authors prescribe that, as a relative pronoun, that be used in restrictive contexts only (contexts in which the relative clause is part of the identification of the noun phrase) and that, in non-restrictive contexts (in which the relative clause serves only to provide additional information about an already-identified noun phrase, e.g., I like the last song on the album, which John wrote), which (in the example) or who/whom be used. In actual usage this prescription is not always followed.
  • In a restrictive relative clause, that is never used as the object of a preposition unless the preposition occurs at the end of the clause; otherwise which is used: "This is the car I spoke of" can be rendered as "This is the car that I spoke of" or as "This is the car of which I spoke" but is never rendered as "This is the car of that I spoke."
  • Although who/whom is prescriptively preferred over that, when one is making reference to a human (e.g., "He is the man who invented the telephone."), it is acceptable to use that.
  • When "that" (or the other relative pronouns "who" and "which") is used as the subject of a relative clause, the verb agrees with the antecedent of the pronoun. Thus "The thing that is...", "The things that are...", etc.

Derived terms [edit]

Adverb [edit]

that (not comparable)

  1. (degree) To a given extent or degree; particularly.
    I'm just not that sick.
  2. (dialect in positive, standard in negative constructions) So, so much; very.
    Ooh, I was that happy I nearly kissed her.
    I did the run last year, and it wasn't that difficult.

Translations [edit]

degree
so, so much, very
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

See also [edit]

Noun [edit]

that (plural thats)

  1. (philosophy) Something being indicated that is there; one of those.
    • 1998, David L. Hall, Roger T. Ames, Thinking from the Han (page 247)
      As such, they do not have the ontological weight of "Being" and "Not-being," but serve simply as an explanatory vocabulary necessary to describe our world of thises and thats.

Statistics [edit]

Old Dutch [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Proto-Germanic *þat.

Pronoun [edit]

that n

  1. that, that one

Determiner [edit]

that n

  1. that

Descendants [edit]

  • Middle Dutch: dat

Old Saxon [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Proto-Germanic *þat.

Determiner [edit]

that

  1. Nominative and accusative singular neuter form of thē

Descendants [edit]

  • Low German: dat
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