Archaic Dutch declension

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Archaic Dutch declension was the declensional system of the Dutch language as prescribed by Dutch grammarians of the 19th century. There are some doubts^[1] about its use in the spoken language, but it was required in most forms of formal writing. The use of most forms of declension were abolished in a spelling reform that was promulgated by the Taalunie (Dutch Language Union) in 1934. After this reform, Dutch writing marked nouns, pronouns, articles, and adjectives to distinguish case, number, and gender.

Dutch writing distinguished between four cases—nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative (sometimes also the locative existed); and three grammatical genders—feminine, masculine, and neuter. Nouns could also be either singular or plural. By this time in spoken language however, only common and neuter gender and singular and plural nouns were actually used and these were no longer subject to further inflexion.

Contents 1 Usage of the Dutch case system 1.1 Nominative 1.2 Genitive 1.3 Dative 1.4 Accusative 1.5 Vocative 1.6 Locative 2 Articles 2.1 Definite Articles 2.2 Indefinite articles 2.3 Indefinite Article (as Adjectival Noun) 3 Nouns 3.1 Strong nouns 3.1.1 het huis (the house) 3.1.2 Formation of the Four Standard Forms 3.2 Feminine nouns 3.2.1 de vrouw (the woman) 3.2.2 Formation of the Three Standard Forms 3.3 Weak nouns 3.3.1 de mens (the human) 3.3.2 Formation of the Two Standard Forms 3.4 Irregular nouns 3.5 Diminutives 4 Adjectives 4.1 The adjective is attributive 4.2 The adjective precedes a noun and is itself preceded by a definite article 4.3 The adjective precedes a noun and is itself preceded by an indefinite article 4.4 The adjective precedes a noun, but is not preceded by any article 4.5 The adjective is used as a noun 4.6 Degrees of Comparison 5 Pronouns 5.1 Demonstrative pronoun 5.2 Relative pronoun 5.3 Possessive pronoun 5.3.1 Declension of the possessive pronoun used as an adjective 5.3.2 Declension of the possessive pronoun used as a noun 5.4 Indefinite pronoun 5.5 Personal Pronoun 5.6 Exclamative pronoun 5.7 Interrogative pronoun 5.8 Reflexive pronoun 5.9 Reciprocal pronoun 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 See also

Usage of the Dutch case system

Since the late 17th century, in nouns, only the uninflected form (morphologically equal to the nominative) was still used, with a limited adjectival or possessive form of the genitive also still being productive. In Standard Dutch, unless they are proper names, clauses in which complements are brought to the head are considered archaic. Thus "Jans auto" (John's car), where the complement as head is a proper name is productive and in common usage. But a clause such as "des dages eind" (the day's end), where the complement is not a proper name and hence requires gender, case and number agreement is considered ungrammatical unless one is invoking an extreme archaism. Technically speaking the dative case is still required after the preposition "te" (to). However this preposition itself has become unproductive, and only results in dative constructions where it is being used with fixed expressions, such as "ten slotte" (finally), "te allen tijde".[1] Nowadays, the preposition "te" is only used productively in relation to proper place names. For example, "Het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam" (The national museum in Amsterdam). The accusative case was left for objects of transitive verbs and objects of all prepositions, bar "te". However, as distinctions between the grammatical cases were only weakly felt among speakers of Dutch, and as the feminine and neuter declensions were identical in the nominative and accusative, while the masculine declension was identical for the accusative and dative, endless confusion reigned.

Nominative

The nominative (eerste naamval) is the most frequent case in Dutch. The following sentence elements always occur in the nominative:

• The subject: Ik ga naar school (I go to school)
• The attribute: Peter is piloot (Peter is a pilot)
• The direct object (only pronouns demand the accusative case): Anja schildert de muur (Anja paints the wall)
• The indirect object (only pronouns demand the dative case): Joop geeft het meisje een ijsje (Joop gives an ice-cream to the girl)
• All other objects are always in the nominative case: Deze maandag is hij niet naar school gegaan (This Monday he didn't go to school)
• The nominative is required after all prepositions, except for the preposition te, fixed expressions and some prepositions with a figurative meaning (only pronouns demand the accusative case): aan de boom (on the tree), door het huis (through the house)

Genitive

The genitive (tweede naamval) is used in following cases:

• As a possessive: 's mans hoed (an archaic expression; the man's hat), Peters vriend (Peter's friend)
• As a generalising attribute: Zoon des mensen (Son of man)
• As an adverbial complement: het rijk der natuur (the realm of nature)
• As an adverbial genitive: 's maandags studeert ze aardrijkskunde (she studies geography on Mondays)

A possessive genitive can be replaced by the preposition van + nominative case (unless the genitive is regarding a person's name) (i.e. a prepositional phrase):

• de hoed van de man

The (possessive) genitives of the personal pronouns are normally replaced by the possessive pronouns

• een vriend mijner (a friend of mine)
• mijn vriend (my friend)
• Één hunner kon ontsnappen (archaic expression) (One of them was able to escape)
• Een van hen kon ontsnappen (One of them was able to escape)
• Onferm u mijner (Have mercy on me, archaic fixed expression)
• Ontferm u over mij (Have mercy on me)

Dative

The dative (derde naamval) is used in the following cases:

• After the preposition te (personal pronouns demand the locative case): ter plekke (on site), ten einde (at the end) (These are always fixed expressions, and never felt or productive uses of the dative case)
• As the indirect object of pronouns: Hij gaf hun het boek (He gave them the book)
• After prepositions with a figurative meaning: in den beginne (at the beginning)

Accusative

The accusative (vierde naamval) is used in the following cases:

• As the direct object of pronouns: Gij sloegt mij (You hit me)
• As a pronoun follows a preposition other than te: door mij (by me), bij hen (at their place)

Vocative

One should not use the vocative case (vijfde naamval) in Dutch; it is so rarely used that it is always more usual to use the nominative:

• Lieve kind, ween niet. (vocative)
• Better: Lief kind, ween niet. (Sweet child, don't cry) (nominative)
• Ach Here ! (Oh, my God; Good Lord !)

(The vocative of adjectives always ends on -e, for all nouns and pronouns it is the same as the nominative, so it is rather a simplification of the nominative)

Locative

There exists a special locative (zevende naamval) form of the personal and the possessive pronoun, which should be used after the preposition te (instead of the dative case) and between the construction van ... wege or om ... wil (which are seldom used), this is perceived as being extremely archaic, this construction is, in spoken Dutch, always replaced by bij + accusative case

• te mijnent (at my place)
• te mij (dative case)
• bij mij (accusative case) (at my place)
• van mijnent wege (from me)

Articles

Definite Articles

Singular
	Masculin	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	de	de	het
Genitive	des	der	des
Dative	den	der	den
Accusative	den	de	het
Plural
	Masculin	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	de	de	de
Genitive	der	der	der
Dative	den	den	den
Accusative	de	de	de

The articles des is in most cases shortened to 's and het sometimes to 't:

• des morgens --> 's morgens (in the morning)
• het paard --> 't paard (the horse)

Only the nominative case and the genitive case are still used, although the use of the genitive has become archaic, except where the complement is a proper name. The dative can (and must) only be used after the preposition te (at), the article contracts with this proposition: te + den --> ten, te + der --> ter. Furthermore the dative as taking case is only ever used in fixed expressions and after prepositions with a figurative meaning.

• te der plaatse --> ter plaatse (on the spot, on site, at the scene)
• te den tijde --> ten tijde (at the time)
• in den beginne (in the beginning)

The accusative is only used in fixed expressions and after prepositions with a figurative meaning.

• op den duur (eventually)
• in de toekomst (in the future)

Indefinite articles

Singular
	Masculin	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	een/ene	een	een
Genitive	eens	ener (eener)	eens
Dative	enen	ener (eener)	enen (eenen)
Accusative	enen (eenen)	een	een

Because Dutch had many spelling reforms, some forms have different spellings, the modern forms are written with double e when the syllable is closed and with single e when the syllable is open, in older spelling versions (the ones between parentheses), double e was always used.

The indefinite article has no plural as such, but "vele" (many) may be taken as its plural, in which case it is declined as follows:

Plural
	Masculin	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	vele	vele	vele
Genitive	veler	veler	veler
Dative	velen	velen	velen
Accusative	vele	vele	vele

The articles een, ene, eens and enen can be shortened to 'n, 'ne, 'ns and 'nen: (in modern Dutch, only the first one, 'n, is in use, and is generally considered a colloquial form)

• een paard --> 'n paard (a horse) (NEU)
• een koning --> 'ne koning (a king) (MAS)
• eens konings --> 'ns konings (a king's) (MAS)
• enen koning --> 'nen koning (a king) (MAS)

The normal form of the nominative masculine singular is een. In certain varieties of non-Standard Dutch such as in Belgium however, normally the form ene is used. (Note that in Standard Dutch writing the numeral pronoun ene can be used in conjunction with an article when one wishes to stress that it is only concerning one thing/person: die ene man, dat ene kind (i.e. not another one); in that case, one often writes éne to stress this fact.)

Only the nominative case and the genitive case are still used, although the use of the genitive seems to be a little archaic. Furthermore the dative and the accusative are only used in fixed expressions and after prepositions with a figurative meaning.

Indefinite Article (as Adjectival Noun)

Singular
	Masculin	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	de ene	de ene	het ene
Genitive	des eens	der ene	des eens
Dative	den enen	der ene	den enen
Accusative	den enen	de ene	het ene
Plural
	Masculin	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	degenen	degenen	degenen
Genitive	dergenen	dergenen	dergenen
Dative	dengenen	dengenen	dengenen
Accusative	degenen	degenen	degenen

If the indefinite article is used as an adjectival noun, it must be preceded by the definite article, its nominal form is "de ene" and it declines and inflects as according to the usual rules. It always needs to be put in a contrast: de ene(n) versus de andere(n) (the one versus the other). When the indefinite article as adjectival noun is pluralized (the ones) (these ones), its nominal form is "degene" [or "diegene" (those ones) when contrasting demonstrative] and declines and inflects otherwise according to the usual rules.

Nouns

In Dutch nouns are inflected in some cases. Most Dutch masculine and neuter nouns have four forms, e.g. huis, huize, huizes, huizen. These nouns are called strong nouns (sterke zelfstandige naamwoorden). Feminine and plural nouns have three forms over four cases: vrouw, vrouwe, vrouwen. These are feminine nouns (vrouwelijke zelfstandige naamwoorden) (with the exception of female names, these are strong). Certain masculine nouns have three forms, e.g. de mens, den mens, den mense, des mensen (plural de mensen, den mensen, der mensen). These nouns are called weak nouns (zwakke substantieven). A single neuter noun is properly classed as weak. This is the noun "hart" (heart). It is declined as follows: het hart (SING NOM ACC) den harte (SING DAT) des harten (SING GEN); de harten (PLU NOM ACC) den harten (PLU DAT) der harten (PLU GEN).

It must be kept in mind though, that due to the latency of the Dutch case system, its disappearance in modern times and its arbitrary enforcement in recent times, many nouns in Dutch are of uncertain gender. To this extent one will come across fixed expressions such as "te zijner tijd" (declined for the singular, dative, feminine) alongside "destijds" (declined for the singular, genitive, masculine/neuter). As "tijd" in modern Dutch is a common gender noun, and case is not anyway felt, this poses no problem. A Dutch speaker simply knows these expressions by heart without doing any overt or latent grammatical analysis upon them.

Strong nouns

het huis (the house)

Singular
Nominative	het huis
Genitive	des huizes
Dative	den huize
Accusative	het huis
Plural
Nominative	de huizen
Genitive	der huizen
Dative	den huizen
Accusative	de huizen

The form huis is used in the nominative and accusative singular, the form huizes in the genitive singular, the form huize in the dative singular and the form huizen in the plural.

Nowadays only the nominative and the genitive (de heer des huizes = the man of the house) are frequently used. The dative is only used after the preposition te and in some fixed expressions (ten huize van = at the house of). The accusative is only used in fixed expressions.

Formation of the Four Standard Forms

• nom.-acc. sing.: root of the noun, caution: at the end of a Dutch word -z changes into -s and -v changes into -f (there are only a few exceptions):

man --> man- --> de man (the man)
huis --> huiz- --> het huis (the house)

• gen. sing.: masculine and neuter nouns get root+(e)s. Caution: female names are also strong nouns! If the noun ends on a clear vowel that is written as one letter, than an apostrophe is included. If the noun ends on an s-sound (-s,-x,-z,-sh or -sch), then the ending is just an apostrophe:

man --> man- --> des mans/des mannes (the man's)
huis --> huiz- --> des huizes (the house's)
Helga --> Helga- --> Helga's (Helga's)
Ann --> Ann- --> Anns (Ann's)
baby --> baby- --> des baby's (the baby's)
bureau --> bureau- --> des bureaus (the desk's)
Cortez --> Cortez- --> Cortez' (Cortez')

• dat. sing. (this rule is also true for feminine nouns): short nouns normally have root+e, long nouns root.

huis --> huiz- --> den huize (the house)
tijd --> tijd- --> den tijde (the time)
overstaan --> overstaan- --> den overstaan (on the other end)
voorbereiding --> voorbereiding --> der voorbereiding (the preparation)

• plural (these rule is also true for feminine nouns): there are 9 possible endings: -en, -s, -'s, -eren, -n, -ën, -¨n (-ën is used as the last syllable (of the singular) is stressed), -¨n (if the last syllable is not stressed), -lieden, -lui (if the singular ends on -man). If needed the last consonant is doubled. Some nouns have more than one plural.

man --> man- --> de mannen (the man)
hotel --> hotel- --> de hotels (the hotels)
baby --> baby- --> de baby's (the babies)
volk --> volk- --> de volkeren/de volken (the peoples)
weide --> weide- --> de weiden (the prairies)
kopie --> kopie- --> de kopieën (the copies)
provincie --> provincie- --> de provinciën/ de provincies (the provinces)
brandweerman --> brandweerman- --> de brandweerlieden/ de brandweerlui (the firemen)

• Nouns that come from other languages still have their particular endings

het museum --> de musea / de museums (the musea)
de garage --> de garages (the garages)
de graffito --> de graffiti (the graffiti)
de collega --> de collegae / de collega's (the colleges)

Feminine nouns

de vrouw (the woman)

Singular
Nominative	de vrouw
Genitive	der vrouw
Dative	der vrouwe
Accusative	de vrouw
Plural
Nominative	de vrouwen
Genitive	der vrouwen
Dative	den/der vrouwen
Accusative	de vrouwen

Caution: female names are strong nouns!

Formation of the Three Standard Forms

• nom.-acc. sing.: see strong declension
• gen. sing.: the gen.sing. is identical to the nom.-acc. sing. (the form des vrouws, is only used as attribute).

vrouw --> vrouw- --> der vrouw (the woman)
Agressie is niet des vrouws. (Aggression is not a property of women, genitive used as an attribute)

• dat. sing.: see strong declension
• plural: see strong declension

Some nouns change their gender in the dative singular:

• het oor (nom. neuter sing.) --> der ore (dat. feminine sing.) (the ear)
• het hart (nom. neuter sing.) --> der harte (dat. feminine sing.) (the heart)
• de gunst (nom. masculine sing.) --> der gunste (dat. feminine sing.) (the favour)

Weak nouns

de mens (the human)

Singular
Nominative	de mens
Genitive	des mensen
Dative	den mensen
Accusative	den mensen
Plural
Nominative	de mensen
Genitive	der mensen
Dative	den mensen
Accusative	de mensen

List of weak nouns: de mens (des mensen) (the human), de graaf (des graven) (the count), de prins (des prinsen) (the prince), de hertog (des hertogen) (the count), de heer (des heren) (the lord),...

Formation of the Two Standard Forms

• nom.sing.: root, if the root ends on -z or -v, then it changes into -s or -f:

mens --> mens- --> de mens (the man)
graaf --> graav- --> de graaf (the count)

• all other forms: root + en

mens --> mens- --> des mensen (the man's)
graaf --> graav- --> des graven (the count's)

Irregular nouns

Some nouns do not use one conjugation type, but multiple. The most frequent of these are het hart (the heart), het oor (the ear), het uur (the hour),de gunst (the favour), de tijd (the time) en de wereld (the world)

Singular
Nominative	het hart (n.)	het oor (n.)	het uur (n.)	de gunst (m.)	de tijd (m./f.)	de wereld (m.)
Genitive	des harten (m.)	des oors (n.)	der ure (f.)	der gunste (f.)	des tijds (m.)/der tijd (f.)	des werelds (m.)/der wereld (f.)
Dative	der harte (f.)	der ore (f.)	der ure (f.)	der gunste (f.)	den tijde (m.)/der tijd (f.)	den werelde (m.)
Accusative	het hart (n.)	het oor (n.)	het uur (n.)	de gunst (m.)	de tijd (m./f.)	de wereld (m.)
Plural
Nominative	de harten (n.)	de oren (n.)	de uren (n.)	de gunsten (m.)	de tijden (m./f.)	de werelden (m.)
Genitive	der harten (n.)	der oren (n.)	der uren (n.)	der gunsten (m.)	der tijden (m./f.)	der werelden (m.)
Dative	den harten (n.)	den oren (n.)	den uren (n.)	den gunsten (m.)	den tijden (m./f.)	den werelden (m.)
Accusative	de harten (n.)	de oren (n.)	de uren (n.)	de gunsten (m.)	de tijden (m./f.)	de werelden (m.)

Diminutives

The diminutive is formed by adding -je to the root of a noun. This suffix can changes into -pje, -tje, -etje or -kje because of phonetic reasons. All diminutives are neuter.

Regular forms of the diminutive:

• mamaatje (ma-ma-tje) (mom)
• hondje (hond-je) (dog)
• koetje (koe-tje) (cow)
• slofje (slof-je) (shoe)
• stokje (stok-je) (stick)
• schooltje (school-tje) (school)
• boompje (boom-pje) (tree)
• kommetje (kom-me-tje) (plate)
• boontje (boon-tje) (bean)
• bonnetje (bon-ne-tje) (ticket)
• mapje (map-je) (book)
• muurtje (muur-tje) (wall)
• voetje (voet-je) (foot)
• koninkje (koning-kje) (king)

In Belgium the ending -ke is often used. Because of phonetic reasons it can change into -eke or -ske:

• mamake (ma-ma-ke) (mom)
• hondeke (honde-ke) (dog)
• koeke (koe-ke) (cow)
• slofke (slof-ke) (shoe)
• stokske (stok-ske) (stick)
• schoolke (school-ke) (school)
• boomke (boom-ke) (tree)
• kommeke (kom-me-ke) (plate)
• boneke (boone-ke) (bean)
• bonneke (bon-ne-ke) (ticket)
• mappeke (mappe-ke) (book)
• muurke (muur-ke) (wall)
• voeteke (voete-ke) (foot)
• koningske (koning-ske) (king)

Adjectives

In Dutch, adjectives are sometimes inflected. There are five different possibilities:

• The adjective is attribute
• The adjective precedes a noun and is itself preceded by a definite article
• The adjective precedes a noun and is itself preceded by an indefinite article
• The adjective precedes a noun, but is not preceded by any article
• The adjective is used as a noun

The adjective is attributive

In this case the adjective is not inflected:

• De kast is mooi. (The closet is beautiful)
• De man wordt groot. (The man is becoming big)

The adjective precedes a noun and is itself preceded by a definite article

Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	de grote man	de grote vrouw	het grote/groot kind
Genitive	des groten mans	der grote vrouw	des groten kinds
Dative	den groten manne	der grote vrouwe	den groten kinde
Accusative	den groten man	de grote vrouw	het grote/groot kind
Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	de grote mannen	de grote vrouwen	de grote kinderen
Genitive	der grote mannen	der grote vrouwen	der grote kinderen
Dative	den groten mannen	den/der grote vrouwen	den groten kinderen
Accusative	de grote mannen	de grote vrouwen	de grote kinderen

• The declension after certain pronouns that are declined as the definite article, is the same as the declension after the definite article.
• Only the nominative, the genitive and the dative after the preposition te are still used, although the genitive is somewhat archaic. The dative and accusative are also used in fixed expressions and after prepositions with a figurative meaning.
• Adjectives with a root on -en (e.g. houten, koperen) always end on -en: e.g. de houten pop (the wooden doll), de koperen klink (the copper doorknob).
• This is true for all fabric names: they never have an ending: e.g. de platina plaat (the platina plate), de linoleum vloerbedekking (the linoleum floor).
• There exists a distinction between the forms een grote man (which is the common form) and een groot man and likewise between een rijke man (common) and een rijk man. The last forms are used in respectively a more figurative and a more generalising way of speech:
  • Hij is een grote man (He is a big (i.e. tall) man) as compared to Hij is een groot man (He is a great man, i.e. 'great' in a special, non-literal sense).
  • Hij is een rijke man in comparison to Hij is een rijk man (both meaning: he is a rich man). In this case, the second form has a more generalising scope; the man is not just "rich", he is "a rich man" (i.e. belongs to the category "rich man"). This last form is also perceived to be less colloquial and more poetic.
• It should be noted, however, that this difference, especially in the last example, is a very subtle one.

The adjective precedes a noun and is itself preceded by an indefinite article

Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	een grote man	een grote vrouw	een groot kind
Genitive	eens groten mans	ener grote vrouw	eens groten kinds
Dative	enen groten manne	ener grote vrouwe	enen groten kinde
Accusative	enen groten man	een grote vrouw	een groot kind

• The indefinite article does not have a plural
• The declension after certain pronouns that are declined as the indefinite article, is the same as the declension after the indefinite article
• Only the nominative, the genitive and the dative after the preposition te are still used, although the genitive is somewhat archaic. Thee dative and accusative are also used in fixed expressions and after prepositions with a figurative meaning.
• Adjectives with a root on -en (e.g. houten, koperen) always end on -en: e.g. een houten pop (a wooden doll), een koperen klink (a copper doorknob).
• This is true for all fabric names: they never have an ending: e.g. een platina plaat (a platina plate), een linoleum vloerbedekking (a linoleum floor).

The adjective precedes a noun, but is not preceded by any article

Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	grote man	grote vrouw	groot kind
Genitive	groten mans	groter vrouw	groten kinds
Dative	groten manne	groter vrouwe	groten kinde
Accusative	groten man	grote vrouw	groot kind
Vocative	grote man	grote vrouw	groot kind (grote kind)
Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	grote mannen	grote vrouwen	grote kinderen
Genitive	groter mannen	groter vrouwen	groter kinderen
Dative	groten mannen	groten/groter vrouwen	groten kinderen
Accusative	grote mannen	grote vrouwen	grote kinderen
Vocative	grote mannen	grote vrouwen	grote kinderen

• The adjective is now (with a few exceptions) inflected as a definite article
• There exists a special vocative form for the nom./acc. neuter sg.: Lieve kind (Lovely child). However this form is not widely accepted. One should use the nominative form instead.
• Only the nominative, the genitive and the dative after the preposition te are still used, although the genitive is somewhat archaic. Thee dative and accusative are also used in fixed expressions and after prepositions with a figurative meaning.
• Adjectives with a root on -en (e.g. houten, koperen) always end on -en: e.g. houten pop (wooden doll), koperen klink (copper doorknob).
• This is true for all fabric names: they never have an ending: e.g. platina plaat (platina plate), linoleum vloerbedekking (linoleum floor).

The adjective is used as a noun

Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	de grote	de grote	het grote
Genitive	des groots	der grote	des groots
Dative	den grote	der grote	den grote
Accusative	den grote	de grote	het grote
Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	de groten	de groten	de grote
Genitive	der groten	der groten	der grote
Dative	den groten	den/der groten	den grote
Accusative	de groten	de groten	de grote

• The adjective is now inflected as a noun
• Only the nominative, the genitive and the dative after the preposition te are still used, although the genitive is somewhat archaic. Thee dative and accusative are also used in fixed expressions and after prepositions with a figurative meaning.
• Fabric names with a root on -en (e.g. houten, koperen) always end on -en: e.g. de houten (the wood), de koperen (the copper). Other adjectives are declined: e.g. volwassen (mature) --> een volwassene, de volwassenen
• This is true for all fabric names: they never have an ending: e.g. het platina (the platina), het linoleum (the linoleum).

Caution: sometimes adjectives are not perceived as adjectives, but simply as nouns: e.g. nicknames, surnames, etc.

• Kleines pet werd door de klas gesmeten. (Kleine's (=Little's) hat was thrown through the classroom) (Kleine = nickname)
• De De Grotes waren weer eens te laat. (The De Grotes (The Greats) were late again) (De Grote = surname)

Singular
Nominative	Kleine
Genitive	Kleines
Dative	Kleine
Accusative	Kleine

Singular
Nominative	de De Grote
Genitive	des De Grotes
Dative	den De Grote
Accusative	den De Grote
Plural
Nominative	de De Grotes/De Groten
Genitive	der De Grotes/De Groten
Dative	den De Grotes/De Groten
Accusative	de de De Grotes/De Groten

Caution: sometimes an adjective, that is used as a noun, is not perceived as a noun itself, it behaves as if it were followed by a (silent) noun:

• De kleine leerlingen moeten vooraan komen zitten, de grote (leerlingen) mogen achteraan plaatsnemen. (The small students should be in front, the large (students) can be in the back of the class)

Degrees of Comparison

The degrees of comparison are forms of an adjective or an adverb. In Dutch there are three forms:

• the stellende trap (the positive) (groot (great)), the normal form of the adjective or adverb
• the vergrotende trap (the comparative) (groter (greater)) and
• the overtreffende trap (the superlative) (grootst (greatest))

Normally the degrees of comparison are formed by adding -er (comparative) and -st (superlative) to the adjective's or adverb's root. If the adjective's or adverb's root ends on an r the comparative will end on -der,e.g. raar - raarder (strange - more strange), ver - verder (far - further).

Examples

• groot - groter - grootst (great - greater - greatest)
• belangrijk - belangrijker - belangrijkst (important - more important - most important)
• oud - ouder - oudst (old - elder - eldest)

However there are some exceptions to this rule (so-called irregular forms):

• goed - beter - best (good/well - better - best, adjective and adverb)
• veel - meer - meest (much/many - more - most, adjective and adverb)
• weinig - minder - minst (few - less -least, adjective and adverb)
• graag - liever - liefst (good/well - better - best, adverb)

If an adjective's or adverb's root ends on an s, z, x, sh or sch, no s is added for the superlative:

• precies - preciezer - preciest (precize - more precize - most precize)

Sometimes words are split into two parts:

• dichtbevolkt - dichter bevolkt - dichtstbevolkt (populated - more populated - most populated)

Normally the conjunction dan is used after the comparative, some people use als (however, this is colloquial usage; als is considered to be incorrect and is not used in written language).

• Ik ben rijker dan hij. (I am richer than he)
• Ik ben rijker als hij. (I am richer than he) (incorrect usage)

Note: the constituent after dan or als is in the same case as the referent: ik (nom.) --> hij (nom.); mij(acc.) --> jou (acc.)

• Hij sloeg mij harder dan jou. (He beat me harder than (he beat) you)
• Hij sloeg mij harder dan jij. (He beat me harder than you (beat me))

Using meer (more) en meest (most): some adjectives do not have normal degrees of comparison, in these cases meer (comparative) en meest (superlative) are used. There are also mixed forms:

• bereid - meer bereid - meest bereid (prepared - more prepared - most prepared)
• archaïsch - archaïscher - meest archaïsch (archaic - more archaic - most archaic)^[2]

It is considered incorrect to use meer en meest if the degrees of comparison exist:

• meer mooi (incorrect) (correction: mooier = more beautiful)

Pronouns

Dutch has 9 different pronouns:

• demonstrative pronoun
• relative pronoun
• possessive pronoun
• indefinite pronoun
• personal pronoun
• exclamative pronoun
• interrogative pronoun
• reflexive pronoun
• reciproque pronoun

Demonstrative pronoun

The accusative and dative are archaic, they are only used in fixed axpressions as 'van dien aard' (of that kind), 'met alle gevolgen van dien' (with those consequences), et cetera. The genitive is only used sporadically, mostly in fixed expressions as 'wat dies meer zij' (whatever it be) and 'in dier voege' (in that way). There are 8 different demonstrative pronouns in Dutch: deze, die, gene, gindse, zo'n, zo een, zulke en zulk een.

If something is close: deze

Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	deze	deze	dit
Genitive	dezes	dezer	dezes
Dative	dezen	dezer	dit
Accusative	dezen	deze	dit
Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	deze	deze	deze
Genitive	dezer	dezer	dezer
Dative	dezen	dezen/dezer	dezen
Accusative	deze	deze	deze

If something is further: die, gene (archaic) or gindse (archaic)

Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	die	die	dat
Genitive	dies/diens	dier	dies/diens
Dative	dien	dier	dien
Accusative	dien	die	dit
Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	die	die	die
Genitive	dier	dier	dier
Dative	dien	dien/dier	dien
Accusative	die	die	die

Gene, gindse and zulke are inflected as an adjective that precedes a noun, but is not preceded by any article.

Zo'n, zo een and zulk are inflected as the indefinite article.

Relative pronoun

Dutch has two different relative pronouns: die and wie. The die-form is the regular form, the wie-form is only used when the antecedent is missing. The words waar, waarmee, etc. are no pronouns but adverbs.

The declension of die

Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	die	die	dat
Genitive	wiens	wier	wiens
Dative	dien	dier	dien
Accusative	dien	die	dit
Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	die	die	die
Genitive	wier	wier	wier
Dative	dien	dien/dier	dien
Accusative	die	die	die

The declension of wie:

Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	wie	wie	wat
Genitive	wiens	wier	wiens
Dative	wien	wier	wien
Accusative	wien	wie	wat
Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	wie	wie	wie
Genitive	wier	wier	wier
Dative	wien	wien/wier	wien
Accusative	wie	wie	wie

Possessive pronoun

Dutch has 7 different possessive pronouns, of these some possess stressed and unstressed forms: mijn (m'n) (1 sing.), jouw (je) (2 sing.), uw (2 sing. en plural polite), zijn (z'n) (3 sing. m. and n.), haar (d'r) (3 sing. f.), ons (1 plural), jullie (2 plural), hun (3 plural). Nowadays the possessive pronoun is not inflected if it is used as an adjective. In the past it was inflected as the indefinite article. If it is used as a noun, it is inflected as an adjective which is used as a noun. The possessive pronoun still has, if used as a noun, a distinct form of the locative case: mijnent, jouwent, uwent, zijnent, harent, onzent, jullieënt, hunnent. In the locative, the possessive pronoun is always preceded by the preposition te.

Because the indefinite article does not have a plural, while the possessive pronoun does, there will be given a declesion of mijn. The roots of the possessive pronouns are: mijn- (m'n-), jouw- (je-), uw- (Uw-), zijn- (z'n-), haar- (d'r-), onz-, jullie- and hun. The regular spelling rules need to be used, e.g. onz becomes ons, julliee becomes jullieë, haaren becomes haren, huner becomes hunner, etc.

Declension of the possessive pronoun used as an adjective

Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	mijn/mijne	mijn	mijn
Genitive	mijns	mijner	mijns
Dative	mijnen	mijner	mijnen
Accusative	mijnen	mijn	mijn
Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	mijn(e)	mijn(e)	mijn(e)
Genitive	mijner	mijner	mijner
Dative	mijnen	mijnen	mijnen
Accusative	mijn(e)	mijn(e)	mijn(e)

Declension of the possessive pronoun used as a noun

Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	de mijne	de mijne	het mijne
Genitive	des mijns	der mijne	des mijns
Dative	den mijne	der mijne	den mijne
Accusative	den mijne	de mijne	het mijne
Locative	den mijnent	der mijnent	den mijnent
Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	de mijnen	de mijnen	de mijne
Genitive	der mijner	der mijner	der mijner
Dative	den mijnen	den mijnen/der mijner	den mijnen
Accusative	de mijnen	de mijnen	de mijne
Locative	den mijnent	den mijnent	den mijnent

Indefinite pronoun

Dutch has 4 indefinite pronouns: iemand, iets, niemand en niets

Singular
	iemand	niemand	iets	niets
Nominative	iemand	niemand	iets	niets
Genitive	iemands	niemands	iets'	niets'
Dative	iemand	niemand	iets	niets
Accusative	iemand	niemand	iets	niets

Personal Pronoun

The personal pronoun is one of the few pronouns that have a complete declension and nearly all forms are still used in modern Dutch. The genitive is usually replaced by the possessive pronoun. The locative is only used in fixed expressions.

Singular
	1	2	3
Nominative	ik ('k)	jij (je), gij (ge), u (U)	hij, zij, het
Genitive	mijner	jouwer, uwer (Uwer)	zijner, harer, zijner
Dative	mij (me)	jou (je), u (U)	hem, haar, het
Accusative	mij (me)	jou (je), u (U)	hem, haar, het
Locative	mijnent	jouwent, uwent (uwent)	zijnent, harent, zijnent
Plural
	1	2	3
Nominative	wij (we)	jullie, gij (ge), u (U)	zij (ze)
Genitive	onzer	julliër, uwer (Uwer)	hunner
Dative	ons	jullie, u (U)	hun
Accusative	ons	jullie, u (U)	hen
Locative	onzent	jullieënt, uwent (Uwent)	hunnent

Exclamative pronoun

Dutch has exclamative pronouns: wie, wat een, welk (een), zo'n and zulk(e).

For the declension of wie, see the relative pronoun, for the declension of wat een, welk een, zo'n and zulk een, see declension of the indefinite article, for the declension of welk(e) and zulk(e), see declension of the adjective preceding a noun, that is not preceded by an article

Interrogative pronoun

Dutch has 2 interrogative pronouns: wie/wat and welk(e) (the adjective form). For the declension of wie, see the relative pronoun article; for the declension of welk(e), see declension of the adjective preceding a noun that is not preceded by an article.

Reflexive pronoun

The reflexive pronoun is always accusative or dative:

Singular
	1	2	3
Dative	mij(zelf)/me(zelf)	je(zelf), zich(zelf), u(zelf)	zich(zelf)
Accusative	mij(zelf)/me(zelf)	je(zelf), zich(zelf), u(zelf)	zich(zelf)
Plural
	1	2	3
Dative	ons(zelf)	je(zelf), zich(zelf), u(zelf)	zich(zelf)
Accusative	ons(zelf)	je(zelf), zich(zelf), u(zelf)	zich(zelf)

Reciprocal pronoun

Dutch has three reciprocal pronouns: elkaar, elkander and mekaar. The reciprocal pronoun does not have a nominative and a singular.

Plural
	elkaar	elkander	mekaar
Genitive	elkaars	elkanders	mekaars
Dative	elkaar	elkander	mekaar
Accusative	elkaar	elkander	mekaar

References

Bibliography

• Johann Franz Ahn, (1796–1865) Elements of Dutch grammar, after Dr. Ahn's method (The Hague, Nijhoff, 1871)
• J.M. Hoogvliet Elements of Dutch grammar, 4th edition (The Hague, Nijhoff, 1908) Here it is already stated the declension is archaic in nature.

See also

• nl:Verbuiging van het lidwoord
• nl:Datief
• nl:Accusatief
• nl:Verbuiging van het zelfstandig naamwoord
• nl:Vormen van verkleinwoord in het Nederlands
• nl:Verkleinwoord
• nl:Verbuiging van het bijvoeglijk naamwoord
• nl:Trappen van vergelijking
• nl:Verbuiging van het voornaamwoord
• nl:Aanwijzend voornaamwoord