Gender in Dutch grammar
In the Dutch language, nouns have one of three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. The gender of a word determines the articles used with it and the pronouns referring to it. Sometimes masculine and feminine nouns are collectively called de-words, whereas neuter nouns are called het-words, in accordance with the definite article used with them. Traditionally, pronouns used for masculine nouns are hij/hem/zijn, feminine zij/haar, neuter het/zijn. In some parts of the Netherlands, awareness of the distinction between masculine and feminine nouns has disappeared, producing a common gender, and using the masculine pronouns for feminine nouns has become quite common in speech and accepted in informal writing. In Belgium, the distinction is usually, but not always, maintained, with speakers and writers of West-Flemish descent using the common gender more than other Belgians. For a large number of words no clear division is determined, and dictionaries just indicate them as de-words. In the case of persons and animals of known sex the pronouns used are generally determined by the biological sex rather than by the grammatical gender of the word. In some dialects, there are exceptions here too: "de koe bij zijn horens vatten" and "Greta zijn hoed" (some West-Flemish dialects).
Although for most words gender can be found only by consulting a dictionary, the following rules can be used to determine the gender of many words:
Common Nouns (De-words)
Masculine nouns
The following nouns are generally masculine:
- aar — leugenaar (liar)
- aard — dronkaard (drunkard)
- er — bakker (baker)
- erd — engerd (creep)
- eur — directeur (manager)
- or — kolonisator (colonizer)
- A small number of words form exceptions to these rules,
- e.g., moeder (mother) and baker (midwife) are feminine.
- e.g., offer (offer), which is neuter
- Independently used present verb stems:
- bloei (blossom)
- dank (thanks)
- groei (growth)
- schrik (fear)
- slaap (sleep)
- Some past verb stems can also be feminine:
- e.g., spraak (speech), kloof (ravine), vloot (fleet)
- Words referring to male entities:
- oom (uncle)
- dief (male thief)
- hengst (stallion)
- Diminutives such as jongetje (little boy) are neuter nouns.
Feminine nouns
The following nouns are generally feminine:
- heid — waarheid (truth)
- nis — kennis (knowledge)
- de — liefde (love)
- te — diepte (depth)
- ij — voogdij (custody)
- ing — wandeling (stroll/hike)
- st — winst (profit)
- ster — verpleegster (nurse)
- in — godin (goddess)
- A small number of words form exceptions to these rules, e.g. dienst (service), which is masculine.
- Words with non-native endings or elements:
- ie — filosofie (philosophy)
- iek — muziek (music)
- ica — logica (logic)
- theek — bibliotheek (library)
- teit — puberteit (puberty)
- tuur — natuur (nature)
- suur — censuur (censorship)
- ade — tirade (tirade)
- ide — asteroïde (asteroid)
- ode — periode (period)
- ude — amplitude (amplitude)
- age — tuigage (rigging)
- ine — discipline (discipline)
- se — analyse (analysis)
- sis — crisis (crisis)
- xis — syntaxis (syntax)
- tis — bronchitis (bronchitis)
- A small number of words form exceptions to these rules. e.g. kanarie (canary) is masculine and ministerie (ministry) is neuter.
- Words referring to female entities:
- tante (aunt)
- dievegge (female thief)
- merrie (mare)
- However, diminutives such as meisje (girl) are neuter nouns.
Neuter nouns (Het-words)
- Diminutive nouns (recognizable by je, kje, pje, tje or etje after the stem). Note this holds even when the referent is obviously male or female, e.g. meisje (girl):
- bloempje (little flower)
- lammetje (little lamb)
- Verb stems with the following ("unseparable") prefixes:
- be — beraad (consideration)
- ge — gedoe (fuss)
- ont — ontslag (discharge)
- ver — verzoek (request)
- Names of towns, countries, languages:
- Brussel (Brussels)
- Nederland (the Netherlands)
- Frans (French)
- Socialisme (socialism)
- Vandalisme (vandalism)
- museum (museum)
- unicum (unique event or aspect)
- There is one notable exception, datum (date), which is masculine (and has both a "regular" plural in datums and the original Latin neuter plural in data).
- thema (theme)
- panorama (scenic view)
Gender in South-Dutch
In the South-Dutch (Flemish) colloquial speech, a difference is made between masculine and feminine words, unlike in Standard Dutch. Masculine words have different articles, possessives and demonstratives than feminine words):
- Indefinite article: (ee)ne(n) - versus the Standard Dutch een
- Definitive article: often remains de (like in Standard Dutch), but is sometimes den (unlike Standard Dutch)
- Possessives: mijne(n), jouwe(n)/je, zijne(n), hare(n), onze(n), uwe(n), hunne(n) - versus the Standard Dutch mijn, jouw/je, zijn, haar, ons, uw, hun (mine, your/your, his, her, our, your, their)
- Demonstratives: diene(n), deze(n) - versus the Standard Dutch die, deze
Example 1: (vrouw is feminine)
-
- South-Dutch: Hebt u mijn vrouw gezien?
- Standard-Dutch: Hebt u mijn vrouw gezien?
- English: Have you seen my wife?
versus: (auto and boom are masculine)
-
- South-Dutch: Ik heb mijnen auto onder diene boom geparkeerd.
- Standard-Dutch: Ik heb mijn auto onder die boom geparkeerd.
- English: I parked my car beneath that tree.
While Standard Dutch only has one indefinitive for its three genders ("een"), spoken South-Dutch has a much more complex set of articles:
- Masculine: ne(n), as in "ne man" (a man) and "nen avond" (an evening) - the ne(n) stems from the now archaic eene(n). Nen is used when a masculine substantive (or if the substantive is accompagnied by an adjective or adverb: the adjective or adverb, as in "nen harde steen" - a hard stone) starts with a vowel or an -h.
- Feminine: een, as in "een vrouw" (a woman).
- Neuter: e(en), as in "e kind" (a child) and "een huis" (a house). Een is used when the neuter substantive (or if the substantive is accompagnied by an adjective or adverb: the adjective or adverb) starts with a vowel or an -h.
See also
References