Dutch grammar

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Dutch grammar
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Archaic Dutch declension Gender in Dutch grammar
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This article outlines the grammar of the Dutch language, which shares strong similarities with German grammar and also, to a lesser degree, with English grammar.

Preliminary considerations

Vowel length is indicated in Dutch spelling using a combination of double vowels and double consonants. Changes from single to double letters are common when discussing Dutch grammar, but they are entirely predictable once one knows how the spelling rules work. This means that the spelling alternations do not form part of the grammar, and they are not discussed here. For more information, see Dutch orthography.

Word order

Dutch word order is underlyingly SOV (subject-object-verb). There is an additional rule called V2 in main clauses, which moves the finite (inflected) verb into the second position in the sentence. Because of this, sentences with only one verb appear with SVO (subject-verb-object) order. However, any other verbs or verbal particles are placed at the end of the clause in accordance with the underlying SOV order, giving an intermediate order of SVOV(V)(V)... . In subordinate clauses, the order is exclusively SOV.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Jan	hielp	zijn moeder
Jan	helped	his mother
"Jan helped his mother."

Gisteren	hielp	Jan	zijn moeder
Yesterday	helped	Jan	his mother
"Yesterday, Jan helped his mother."

Jan	wilde	zijn moeder	gaan helpen
Jan	wanted	his mother	to go help
"Jan wanted to go help his mother."

Jan	zei	dat	hij	zijn moeder	wilde	gaan helpen
Jan	said	that	he	his mother	wanted	to go help
"Jan said that he wanted to go help his mother."

In yes-no questions, the verb of the main clause is usually, but not always, placed first instead of second. If the verb comes second, this often implies disbelief, like in English: "The prisoner escaped?" vs. "Did the prisoner escape?"

Hielp	Jan	zijn moeder?
Helped	Jan	his mother?
"Did Jan help his mother?"

Wilde	Jan	zijn moeder	gaan helpen?
Wanted	Jan	his mother	to go help?
"Did Jan want to go help his mother?"

Zei	Jan	dat	hij	zijn moeder	wilde	gaan helpen?
Said	Jan	that	he	his mother	wanted	to go help?
"Did Jan say that he wanted to go help his mother?"

In imperative sentences, the verb of the main clause is always placed first, although it may be preceded by a noun phrase indicating who being addressed.

(Jan,)	ga	je moeder	helpen!
(Jan,)	go	your mother	help!
"(Jan, ) go help your mother!"

(Jan,)	zeg	dat	je	je moeder	wilde	gaan helpen!
(Jan,)	say	that	you	your mother	wanted	to go help!
"(Jan,) say that you wanted to go help your mother!"

In the following example, the SOV order in the subordinate clause causes the various noun phrases to be separated from the verbs that introduce them, creating a relatively deep "nesting" structure:

Ik zie dat	de ouders	de kinderen	Jan	het huis	hebben	laten	helpen	schilderen.
I see that	the parents	the children	Jan	the house	have	let	help	paint
"I see that the parents have let the children help Jan paint the house."

Adjectives always come before the noun to which they belong.

rode appels – red apples

Time modifiers usually come before place modifiers:

Ik	ben	dit	jaar	naar	Frankrijk	geweest
I	am	this	year	to	France	been
"I have been to France this year."

Nouns

Plural

The plural is formed by addition of -en (pronounced /ən/ or /ə/) or -s, with the usual spelling changes in the case of the former. Which of the two is used is somewhat unpredictable, although some general rules can be given:

Single-syllable words, which are common in Dutch, normally use -en:
- deur "door" → deuren
- boot "boat" → boten
- huis "house" → huizen
- dief "thief" → dieven
Words ending in a schwa /ə/ often use -s, but a sizable number uses -n, particularly if they are older. Some nouns may allow either ending. Nouns that are substantivised forms of adjectives always use -n.
- tante "aunt" → tantes
- chocolade "chocolate" → chocolades
- bode "messenger" → boden or bodes
- oxide "oxide" → oxiden
- grote "great one" → groten
Relatively modern words ending in a long vowel use -'s (with an apostrophe), but if they end in -ee or -é then no apostrophe is used. Older ones generally use -en or -ën (with diaeresis).
- baby "baby" → baby's
- café "café, bar, pub" → cafés
- pizza "pizza" → pizza's
- radio "radio" → radio's
- ree "roe" → reeën
- la (also lade) "drawer" → laden (but in colloquial usage sometimes also la's)
Words ending in unstressed -el or -er usually use -s. If -en is allowed it tends to be more archaic or poetic.
- akker "agricultural field" → akkers
- appel "apple" → appels or (archaic) appelen (note: for the derived noun aardappel "potato", the plural aardappelen is still common, alongside aardappels)
- lepel "spoon" → lepels
- sleutel "key" → sleutels
- vader "father" → vaders or (archaic) vaderen
Initialisms (words pronounced as letters) follow the rules for whatever the final syllable suggests, usually by adding -s but occasionally -en:
- APK "vehicle inspection" → APK's
- cd "CD" → cd's

Plurals with vowel change

A number of common nouns inherited from Old Dutch have a short vowel in the singular but a long vowel in the plural. When short i is lengthened in this way, it becomes long e.

dag (/dɑx/ "day") → dagen (/ˈdaːɣə(n)/ "days")
gebrek (/ɣəˈbrɛk/ "deficiency") → gebreken (/ɣəˈbreːkə(n)/ "deficiencies")
schip (/sxɪp/ "ship") → schepen (/ˈsxeːpə(n)/ "ships")
slot (/slɔt/ "lock") → sloten (/ˈsloːtə(n)/ "locks"; this is also the plural of sloot "ditch")

Other nouns with this change include: bad ("bath"), bedrag ("amount of money"), bevel ("command"), blad ("sheet of paper, magazine", not the sense "leaf"), dak ("roof"), dal ("valley"), gat ("hole"), gebed ("prayer"), gebod ("commandment"), gen ("gene"), glas ("glass"), god ("god"), hertog ("duke"), hof ("court"), hol ("cave, burrow"), lid ("member"), lot ("lottery ticket"), oorlog ("war"), pad ("path"), schot ("shot"), slag ("strike, battle"), smid ("smith"), spel ("large game/spectacle", not in the sense of a smaller everyday game), staf ("staff"), vat ("vat, barrel"), verbod ("prohibition"), verdrag ("treaty"), verlof ("permission, leave"), weg ("road, way").

The noun stad (/stɑt/ "town, city") has umlaut in the plural alongside lengthening: steden (/ˈsteːdə(n)/ "cities"). The plural of nouns ending in the suffix -heid (/ɦɛit/ "-ness, -hood") is irregular -heden (/ɦeːdə(n)/).

Plurals in -eren

A few nouns have a plural in -eren. This ending derives from the old Germanic "z-stem" nouns, and is cognate with the English -ren (children, brethren etc). The following nouns have this type of plural:

been "bone" → beenderen (when used in the sense "leg", the plural is the regular benen)
blad "leaf" → bladeren (when used in the sense "sheet, magazine", the plural is bladen)
ei "egg" → eieren
gelid "rank, file" → gelederen
gemoed "mood, emotion" → gemoederen
goed "good" → goederen
hoen "fowl" → hoenderen
kalf "calf" → kalveren
kind "child" → kinderen
kleed "cloth" → (archaic) klederen or kleren "clothes" (nowadays a plurale tantum like in English)
lam "lamb" → lammeren
lied "song" → liederen (somewhat archaic; in modern usage the plural of the diminutive is preferred instead: liedjes)
rad "wheel" → raderen
rund "cattle" → runderen
volk "people, nation" → volkeren (somewhat archaic; the regular volken is more frequent)

When used in compounds, the stem of these nouns usually includes the -er. For example: eierschaal "eggshell", kinderarbeid "child labour", klederdracht "traditional costume", rundertartaar "beef tartare", volkermoord "genocide". This is not a rule, however, and compounds with the singular form also exist: eivorm "egg-shape", rundvlees "beef", volkslied "national anthem".

Foreign plurals

For a number of nouns of Latin origin, a Latin-like plural may be used. Depending on the word and the formalness of the setting, a regular plural in -en or -s can also be used.

museum "museum" → musea or museums
politicus "politician" → politici or politicussen

Some modern scientific words borrowed from Latin or Greek form their plurals with vowel lengthening, like the native words listed above. These words are primarily Latin agent nouns ending in -or and names of particles ending in -on. Alongside the change in vowel length, there is also a stress shift in the plural, patterned on the Latin third declension where this also occurs. In each case, the singular follows a Latin-like stress, while the plural stresses the -on- or -or-. Some examples:

elektron (/eːˈlɛktrɔn/ "electron") → elektronen (/eːlɛkˈtroːnə(n)/ "electrons")
doctor (/ˈdɔktɔr/ "doctor (holder of a doctorate)") → doctoren (/dɔkˈtoːrə(n)/ "doctors")
graviton (/ˈɣraːvitɔn/ "graviton") → gravitonen (/ɣraːviˈtoːnə(n)/ "gravitons")
reactor (/reːˈɑktɔr/ "reactor") → reactoren (/reːɑkˈtoːrə(n)/ "reactors")

Words borrowed from English or French will generally form their plural in -s, in imitation of the native plural of those languages. This applies especially to recent borrowings.

harddisk → harddisks
bonbon → bonbons

Diminutive

Many nouns have a diminutive form alongside the normal base form. This form is used to indicate small size, or emphasize a particular endearing quality. Use of diminutives is very common, so much that they could be considered part of the noun's inflectional paradigm.

There are two basic ways to form the diminutive: with -tje or with -ke. The former is the standard way, while the latter is found in some dialects, mostly in the south (Brabantian and Limburgish). All diminutives have neuter gender, no matter what the gender of the original noun was. The plural is always formed with -s.

Diminutive in -tje

The basic suffix -tje is modified in different ways depending on the final sounds of the noun it is attached to.

The -t- is removed from the ending when added to words ending in a fricative or plosive (-b, -c, -d, -f, -g, -ch, -k, -p, -q, -s, -sj, -t, -v, -x, -z).

hond → hondje
brief → briefje
hok → hokje
vis → visje
douche → doucheje (/duʃ/ → /ˈduʃ(j)ə/)
race → raceje (/reːs/ → /ˈreːsjə/ ~ /ˈreːʃə/)

Note that the last two words really end in a consonant, despite not being spelled that way.

When the vowel of the last syllable is both short and stressed, and it is followed by a sonorant, an extra schwa -e- is inserted, giving -etje.

kom → kommetje
pil → pilletje
lam → lammetje
ding → dingetje
vriendin → vriendinnetje
baron → baronnetje

In all other cases, the basic form -tje is used. This includes:

Words ending in a stressed tense/long vowel or diphthong.
Words ending in any unstressed vowel.
Words ending in one of the above types of vowel, followed by -l, -n, -r.
Words ending in one of the above types of vowel, followed by -m. The resulting combination -mtje is assimilated to -mpje.
Words ending in one of the above types of vowel, followed by -ng. The resulting combination -ngtje is assimilated to -nkje.

When the final vowel is long, it is doubled accordingly. Final -i, which does not really occur in native Dutch words, is converted into -ie. Final -y gets an apostrophe.

koe → koetje
auto → autootje
mama → mamaatje
vrouw → vrouwtje
taxi → taxietje
baby → baby'tje
school → schooltje
kuil → kuiltje
maan → maantje
muur → muurtje
appel → appeltje
boom → boompje
duim → duimpje
bodem → bodempje
koning → koninkje
houding → houdinkje

In the case of the vowels oe and ie, there is some ambiguity. While pronounced short in many dialects, they can also be long for some speakers, so forms both with and without the extra -e- can be found.

bloem → bloemetje or bloempje
wiel → wieltje or wieletje

Diminutive in -ke

In the south, the ending -ke is often used instead. It also has different forms depending on the preceding sounds, with rules very similar to those for the -tje ending.

An older form of this ending was -ken, which is more like its German cognate -chen. This form is not used much today, but it is still found in older texts and names. A famous example is Manneken Pis.

When the word ends in a velar consonant (-g, -ch, -k, -ng), an extra dissimilative -s- is inserted, giving -ske.

dag → dagske
lach → lachske
stok → stokske
ding → dingske
koning → koningske

An extra -e- is inserted in three cases, giving -eke:

Words ending in a non-velar plosive (-p, -b, -t, -d).
Words ending in -n, which is not a velar itself but would assimilate to one before the following -k-.
Words ending in -m, -l or -r preceded by a stressed short vowel.

Examples:

hond → hondeke
voet → voeteke
map → mappeke
boon → boneke
bon → bonneke
kom → kommeke
hol → holleke
bar → barreke

In all other cases, the ending is the basic -ke. This includes:

Words ending in a vowel.
Words ending in a non-velar fricative (-f, -v, -s, -z).
Words ending in -m, -l, -r preceded by a long vowel, diphthong, or unstressed vowel.

Examples:

mama → mamake
koe → koeke
slof → slofke
doos → dooske
school → schoolke
muur → muurke
boom → boomke
bodem → bodemke

Umlaut in diminutives

Standard Dutch, as well as most dialects, do not use umlaut as a grammatical marker. However, some eastern dialects (East Brabantian, Limburgish and many Low Saxon-influenced areas) have regular umlaut of the preceding vowel in diminutives. As this is not a standard feature, it is rare in the written language except when used to evoke a local feeling. It can be more common in the spoken language. Some examples:

man → menneke
boom → beumke
pop → pupke

Diminutives of nouns with irregular plurals

Nouns with irregular plurals tend to have the same irregularity in the diminutive as well. This is not a rule, however, and both forms can often be found. For some nouns, the irregularity is more common in the plural of the diminutive, and only rarely appears in the singular. Some examples:

blad → blaadje, in plural also bladertjes
dag → dagje, in plural also daagjes
glas → glaasje
kind → kindje, in plural also kindertjes
pad → paadje
rad → radje or radertje
schip → schipje or scheepje
spel → speeltje
vat → vaatje

Cases

Main article: Archaic Dutch declension

Noun cases are no longer used productively in modern Dutch. They were still present in the formal written standard up until the 1940s, but were abolished then as they had long disappeared from the spoken language. Because of this, they are nowadays restricted mostly to set phrases and are distinctly archaic. The former Dutch case system resembled that of modern German, and distinguished four cases: nominative (subject), genitive (possession or relation), dative (indirect object, object of preposition) and accusative (direct object, object of preposition). Only the nominative now survives. Some examples of the other three cases in fixed expressions:

Genitive: de dag des oordeels "judgement day", Koninkrijk der Nederlanden "Kingdom of the Nederlands"
Dative: in feite "in fact", heden ten dage "nowadays"
Accusative: op den duur "eventually", goedenavond "good evening"

The role of cases has been taken over by word order in modern Dutch and, to a lesser extent, by prepositions. For example, the distinction between direct and indirect object is now made by placing the indirect object before the direct, or by using the preposition aan "to" with the indirect object. The genitive is replaced with the preposition van "of". Usage of cases with prepositions has disappeared as well.

Cases are still occasionally used productively as deliberate archaisms, which are often calques of existing phrases. This is particularly true of the genitive case, which is still used occasionally to evoke a formal or archaic style. However, speakers' awareness of how the cases were originally used is generally low, and because the masculine and feminine genders merged in many areas, their old case forms are often confused as well. Thus, people may confuse the old masculine/neuter genitive article des and the corresponding noun ending -s with the article der (with no ending) used for feminine or plural nouns.

For example, one might see a title such as:

De geschiedenis der Nederlandse film ("The history of the Dutch film")

where film is treated as a feminine gender noun, and Nederlandse and the article der inflected likewise. However, film was a masculine noun, so historically it should read:

De geschiedenis des Nederlandsen films

In normal modern Dutch, the distinction isn't relevant, as a preposition is used instead:

De geschiedenis van de Nederlandse film

Notwithstanding however, this formal use of the genitive case, associated with bookishness and higher learning, probably persists as one tends to encounter it in institutions of higher learning. For example, all the faculties of the University of Leiden have names which are declined in the genitive case , as well as in religious usage where use of the genitive can play a somewhat similar function in making language sound more formal and respectful like the English use of the archaic pronoun "thou".

Articles

Dutch has both a definite article ("the") and an indefinite article ("a" or "an").

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Definite singular	de man	de vrouw	het huis
Definite plural	de mannen	de vrouwen	de huizen
Indefinite singular	een man	een vrouw	een huis

Het and een are normally pronounced /ət/ and /ən/, respectively. They may sometimes also be contracted in spelling to reflect this: 't, 'n.

There is no indefinite article in the plural, the noun is just used on its own. However, there is a negative indefinite article geen ("no, not a, not any"). It declines the same as een and has no distinctions for gender or number.

Dat is geen man ("That is not a man")
Dat is geen vrouw ("That is not a woman")
Dat is geen huis ("That is not a house")
Dat zijn geen mannen ("Those aren't men")
Ik heb geen water ("I have no water", "I don't have any water")

The articles formerly had forms for the different cases as well. See Archaic Dutch declension for more information.

Adjectives and adverbs

Within the Dutch noun phrase, adjectives are placed in front of the noun and after the article (if present).

Inflection

The inflection of adjectives follows the gender and number of the following noun. They also inflect for definiteness, like in many other Germanic languages. When preceded by a definite article, demonstrative determiner, possessive determiner or any other kind of word that acts to distinguish one particular thing from another, the definite form of the adjective is used. In other cases, such as with an indefinite article, indefinite determiner (like veel "many" or alle "all"), the indefinite form is used.

Despite the many different aspects that determine the inflection of an adjective, the adjective only occurs in two main forms. The uninflected form or base form is the adjective without any endings. The inflected form has the ending -e. The inflection of adjectives is as follows:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Indefinite singular	een kleine man	een kleine vrouw	een klein huis
Indefinite plural	kleine mannen	kleine vrouwen	kleine huizen
Definite singular	de kleine man	de kleine vrouw	het kleine huis
Definite plural	de kleine mannen	de kleine vrouwen	de kleine kinderen

Adjectives are only inflected in this way when they are in an attributive role, where they precede a noun and modify it. Adjectives in a predicative role, which are used in predicative sentences with a copula verb, are not inflected and always use the uninflected form. Compare:

de kleine man ("the small man") — de man is klein ("the man is small")
kleine huizen ("small houses") — huizen zijn klein ("houses are small")

Most adjectives ending in -en have no inflected form. This includes adjectives for materials, as well as the past participles of strong verbs.

de houten stoel ("the wooden chair")
het stenen huis ("the brick house")
de gebroken lampen ("the broken lamps")

Adjectives that end in a vowel in their uninflected form are rare, and there are no fixed rules for them. Often, the uninflected and inflected forms are the same, but sometimes an extra -ë is added on anyway.

Additional uses of the uninflected form

Uninflected adjectives are occasionally found in other contexts. With neuter nouns, if the adjective is inherently part of the noun as part of a set phrase, then the uninflected form is often used in the definite singular as well:

het openbaar vervoer ("the public transport", as a specific entity)
het openbare vervoer ("the public transport", meaning the transport that is public, it could be any transport)
het groot woordenboek van de Nederlandse taal ("the big dictionary of the Dutch language", as a proper title)
het grote woordenboek van de Nederlandse taal ("the big dictionary of the Dutch language", a dictionary that happens to be big)

Indefinite adjectives describing people often remain uninflected, for instance if they express an admirable quality:

een groot man ("a great man") — een grote man ("a big/tall man")
een talentvol schrijver ("a talented writer")

Partitive

Adjectives have a special form called the partitive, which is used after an indefinite pronoun such as iets "something", niets "nothing", veel "much", weinig "little". The partitive form has the ending -s.

Vertel me iets interessants. ("Tell me something interesting.")
Ik heb iemand nieuws leren kennen. ("I have got to know somebody new.")

Adjectives that already end in -s or -sch don't receive this ending:

Ik heb iets paars aangetrokken. ("I've put on something purple.", the base form is already paars)
Er is niet veel fantastisch aan. ("There isn't much fantastic about it.")

The rare few adjectives that end in a long vowel get -'s instead, with an apostrophe like noun plurals do.

Ik vond paars niet zo mooi, dus heb ik nu iets lila's. ("I didn't like purple so much, so now I have something lilac.")

Adjectives used as adverbs

The uninflected form of an adjective is implicitly also an adverb. This makes it hard at times to distinguish adjectives and adverbs in Dutch.

Dat is een snelle auto. De auto rijdt snel. ("That is a fast car. The car drives fast.")
Wij werden vriendelijk begroet door die vriendelijke mensen. ("We were kindly welcomed by those kind people.")

Adjectives used as nouns

The inflected form of an adjective can also be used as a noun. Three types can be distinguished:

The noun that the adjective refers to is omitted but implied. The adjective will then be inflected as if the noun had been present, although the inflected form is normally used even in the indefinite neuter singular.
- Je kunt deze auto kopen in verschillende kleuren. Wil je de groene, de blauwe of de gele? ("You can buy this car in various colours. Do you want the green, the blue or the yellow one?")
- Wij hebben drie kinderen, twee grote en een kleine. ("We have three children, two big ones and a small one.", alternatively Wij hebben drie kinderen, twee grote en een klein.)
The adjective is used as a masculine/feminine noun in its own right, usually referring to a person. The -e will always be added, even to adjectives that already end in -en. The plural is formed with -n.
- Je rijdt als een blinde! ("You drive like a blind person!")
- Waar ben je, mijn geliefde? ("Were are you, my loved one?")
- Laat de gevangene vrij! ("Release the prisoner!", from the past participle gevangen "captured, imprisoned")
- De rijken moeten de armen helpen. ("The rich should help the poor.")
The adjective is used as a neuter mass noun describing a concept.
- Ik kan geen antwoord geven, omdat ik het gevraagde niet begrijp. ("I can't answer, because I don't understand what was asked.")
- Angst voor het onbekende is heel gewoon. ("Fear of the unknown is very normal.")

Comparative and superlative

Adjectives have three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative. The comparative and superlative are formed synthetically, by adding endings to the adjective. The comparative and superlative can also be formed analytically by using meer "more" and meest "most", but this is much rarer than in English. The analytic forms are used only when the word would become particularly long, or when it would become hard to pronounce (particularly in the superlative).

The comparative is formed by adding -er to the base form. For adjectives that end in -r, the comparative is formed by adding -der to the base form instead. The comparative inflects as an adjective in its own right, having inflected and partitive forms. The uninflected comparative can be used as an adverb as well.

Ik ben groot, maar jij bent groter. ("I'm big, but you're bigger.")
Dit speelgoed kan gevaarlijk zijn voor kleinere kinderen. ("This toy can be dangerous for smaller children.")
Deze jas is duurder. ("This coat is more expensive.")
Heb je niets goedkopers? ("Do you have nothing cheaper?")
Dat heb je nog fantastischer gedaan dan de vorige keer! ("You did it even more fantastically than last time!")

The superlative is formed by adding -st. This is equivalent to adding -t to the partitive, and the same rules apply. When an adjective ends in -s or -sch, this becomes -st and -scht, but these forms are more rarely used, and the analytic form with meest is preferred.

De Mont Blanc is de hoogste berg van de Alpen. ("Mont Blanc is the highest mountain of the Alps.")
Dit is het vieste toilet dat ik ooit heb gezien. ("This is the dirtiest toilet I've ever seen.", alternatively Dit is het meest vieze toilet...)

Because it is most often used to distinguish one particular thing from all others, the superlative is generally accompanied by a definite article. This means it is rarely found in the uninflected form. Even in predicative sentences, a definite article precedes, so it becomes more like a noun phrase with an implied noun.

Deze jas is de duurste. ("This coat is the most expensive.")
Dit huis is het grootste. ("This house is the biggest.")

When used as an adverb, the superlative is always preceded by the neuter article het, unlike in English where this is optional. Either the uninflected or the inflected form can be used, without any difference in meaning. This form can also be used as part of predicative sentences, which can lead to a mismatch of genders which may seem odd at first glance, but is correct nonetheless:

Deze jas is het duurst(e). ("This coat is (the) most expensive")
Dit huis is het grootst(e). ("This house is (the) biggest.")
Onze auto rijdt het hardst(e) van allemaal. ("Our car drives (the) fastest of all.")

Note that the first sentence meaning "This coat is the most expensive" has the same meaning as the first sentence further above. They are interchangeable, but they would be parsed differently. With the article de, there is an implied noun, and it might better be translated as "the most expensive one". The superlative must also be in the inflected form in this case, de duurst would be incorrect. With the article het, there is no implied noun, and both the inflected (het duurste) and uninflected form (het duurst) can be used.

Some comparatives and superlatives are suppletive, and use a different root than the base form. These are irregular.

goed, beter, best ("good, better, best")
veel, meer, meest ("much/many, more, most")
weinig, minder, minst ("little/few, less/fewer, least/fewest")
graag, liever, liefst ("willingly/gladly, rather/more preferably, most preferably")

When an adjective is a compound of an adverb and a verb participle, the adverb sometimes changes rather than the whole word. A space may be added as well.

dichtbevolkt, dichter bevolkt, dichtstbevolkt ("densely populated, more densely populated, most densely populated")

Pronouns and determiners

Personal pronouns

As in English, Dutch personal pronouns still retain a distinction in case. Two case forms survive: the nominative (subject) on one hand, and the accusative/dative (object) on the other.

Like many other European languages, Dutch has a T-V distinction in its pronouns. The second-person pronouns, which are used to refer to the listener, exist in informal and formal varieties. However, because of the relatively complex and dialect-specific way in which the pronouns developed, this is less straightforward than it is in for example French or German. The old Germanic/Indo-European second-person singular pronoun du / doe (English thou) fell out of use in Dutch during in the Middle Ages, while it remained in use in the closely related Limburgish, Dutch Low Saxon and West Frisian languages. The role of the old singular pronoun was taken over by the old plural form, which differed slightly depending on dialect: gij in the south, jij in the north. This development also happened in English, which once had a T-V distinction but then lost it when the old informal pronoun thou was lost. In Dutch, however, further changes occurred, and the north and south developed differently:

In the north and in the standard language, a new formal pronoun u was introduced, which made jij distinctly informal. A new second-person plural pronoun was created by adding lie(den) "people" to the old singular (compare English y'all). This created jullie, an informal pronoun when speaking to many people. The formal pronoun u is used for both singular and plural.
In many southern dialects, the older situation remained, and gij is still a neutral way to speak to a person in those dialects. However, informal jij and formal u are commonly used in the standard language of the south, like in the north.
Many dialects created their own plural forms of pronouns, such as gijlie or similar in the south for the second person plural, and also hullie for the third person plural ("they"). These forms are not part of standard Dutch.

Many pronouns can occur in a stressed form and an unstressed (clitic) form. The stressed form retains the original full vowel, and is used when particular emphasis or contrast is needed. The unstressed form normally replaces the vowel with a schwa /ə/ and is used in other cases. The unstressed forms are shown in brackets; those spelled with an apostrophe or hyphen are not used often in formal written text.

person	subject	object
1st person singular	ik ('k)	mij (me)
2nd person singular, informal	jij (je)	jou (je)
2nd person singular, formal	u	u
2nd person singular, southern	gij (ge)	u
3rd person singular, masculine	hij (-ie)	hem ('m)
3rd person singular, feminine	zij (ze)	haar ('r, d'r)
3rd person singular, neuter	het ('t)	het ('t)

1st person plural	wij (we)	ons
2nd person plural, informal	jullie (je)	jullie (je)
2nd person plural, formal	u	u
2nd person plural, southern	gij (ge)	u
3rd person plural, for a person	zij (ze)	hun, hen (ze)
3rd person plural, for an object	zij (ze)	die (ze)

The pronouns are the only place in the standard language where the difference between masculine and feminine gender is significant. Consequently, the usage of the pronouns differs depending on how many genders are distinguished by a speaker. Speakers in the north will use feminine pronouns for female people, and the masculine pronouns for male people and for common-gender (masculine or feminine) nouns. In the south, the feminine pronouns are used for feminine nouns and the masculine pronouns are used for masculine nouns. See Gender in Dutch grammar for more details.

The standard language prescribes that in the third person plural, hen is to be used for the direct object, and hun for the indirect object. This distinction was artificially introduced in the 17th century, and is largely ignored and not well understood by Dutch speakers. Consequently, the third person plural forms hun and hen are interchangeable in normal usage, with hun being more common. The shared unstressed form ze is also a useful avoidance strategy when people are unsure which form to use.^[4]

In informal spoken language, hun is also used a subject pronoun by some speakers. This is considered substandard.^[5]

Possessive determiners

Possessive determiners also have stressed and unstressed forms, like the pronouns.

person	uninflected	inflected
1st person singular	mijn (m'n)	mijne
2nd person singular, informal	jouw (je)	jouwe
2nd person singular, formal	uw	uwe
2nd person singular, southern	uw	uwe
3rd person singular, masculine	zijn (z'n)	zijne
3rd person singular, feminine	haar ('r, d'r)	hare
3rd person singular, neuter	zijn (z'n)	zijne

1st person plural	ons	onze
2nd person plural, informal	jullie (je)	—
2nd person plural, formal	uw	uwe
2nd person plural, southern	uw	uwe
3rd person plural	hun	hunne

Possessive determiners are not inflected when used attributively, unlike adjectives. Thus:

Hij is mijn man. ("He is my husband.")
Dat is mijn huis. ("That is my house.")

An exception is ons, which inflects like an indefinite adjective, receiving -e when used with a masculine, feminine or plural noun. Possessive determiners are themselves definite in meaning, so any following adjectives will occur in the definite form even when the possessive itself does not:

ons grote huis ("our big house")
onze grote huizen ("our big houses").

The inflected form is also used when the determiner is used predicatively. It is always preceded by a definite article in this case, giving the appearance of an implied noun. For example: Dit is mijn auto. De auto is de mijne. ("This is my car. The car is mine.", more literally "The car is the my one"). Jullie has no inflected form, the sentence is usually rephrased with van instead: De auto is van jullie. ("The car is of you.")

Before the case system was abolished from written Dutch, all possessive determiners inflected as indefinite adjectives, not only ons. They also inflected for case. While this is no longer done in modern Dutch, some relics still remain in fixed expressions. See Archaic Dutch declension for more details.

Demonstrative determiners

Like English, Dutch has two sets of demonstrative for different degrees of distance. A third, unspecific degree also exists, which is fulfilled by the personal pronouns, but see further below on pronominal adverbs.

The demonstratives inflect like indefinite adjectives, but irregularly. They are themselves definite in meaning, so any following adjectives will occur in the definite form.

Proximal demonstrative
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	deze	deze	dit
Plural	deze	deze	deze

Distal demonstrative
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	die	die	dat
Plural	die	die	die

When the demonstrative pronoun is used exophorically (referring to something that has not yet been mentioned in the text), the "uninflected" forms dit and dat are always used:

Dit is mijn nieuwe auto. Ik heb deze gisteren gekocht. ("This is my new car. I bought this one yesterday.")

Even though auto is of common gender and otherwise requires the form deze. In this sentence, the first pronoun (dit) is exophoric, while the second one (deze) refers back to auto.

The exophoric pronoun, when used in a predicative sentence, is always the complement and never the subject. The inflection of the verb follows the other argument instead, and will be plural even when the pronoun is not:

Dat is een nieuw huis. ("That is a new house")
Dit is mijn boek. ("This is my book")
Dat zijn nieuwe huizen. ("Those are new houses", notice singular dat, with plural verb zijn agreeing with plural noun huizen)
Dit zijn mijn boeken. ("These are my books", same with dit)

Pronominal adverbs

Pronoun	Adverb	Meaning
dat	daar	that, there
dit	hier	this, here
hem, haar, het, hun/hen/ze	er	him, her, it, them, there (unspecific)
wat	waar	what, where
alles	overal	everything, everywhere
iets	ergens	something, somewhere
niets	nergens	nothing, nowhere

Verbs

Main article: Dutch conjugation

Dutch verbs inflect for person and number, and for two tenses (present and past) and three moods (indicative, subjunctive and imperative). However, all plural forms of a verb are identical, and in modern usage only the present singular indicative has different forms for different persons. Verbs additionally have an infinitive and two participles (present and past). Other grammatical categories such as future tense or perfect aspect may be expressed through analytical forms, using one or more auxiliary verbs along with an infinitive or a participle.

Dutch retains the two main types of verb inherited from Proto-Germanic: weak and strong. Preterite-present verbs are also present, but can be considered irregular. All regular verbs conjugate the same in the present tense (including the infinitive and present participle), so the weak versus strong distinction only matters for the past tense.

The following is a general overview of the endings:

Indicative mood
Infinitive	-en
	Present	Weak past	Strong past
1st sing.	-	-de, -te	-
2nd sing. jij	-(t)	-de, -te	-
2nd sg+pl gij	-t	-de(t), -te(t)	-(t)
2nd sg+pl u	-t	-de, -te	-
3rd sing.	-t	-de, -te	-
Plural	-en	-den, -ten	-en
Subjunctive mood
	Present	Weak past	Strong past
Singular	-e	-de, -te	-e
Plural	-en	-den, -ten	-en
Imperative mood
General	-
Plural	-t
Participles
	Present	Weak past	Strong past
	-end	ge- -d, ge- -t	ge- -en

Notes:

When the stem of a verb ends in -t already, the ending -t is not added on as a word cannot end in -tt. Similarly, when the stem ends in -d the additional -d in the weak past participle is not added.
When the informal second-person jij-form is followed immediately by the subject pronoun itself (jij or je), it loses its -t: Jij werkt → Werk jij? ("You work" → "Do you work?"). The -t is present in all other cases.
The -t of the southern second-person gij-form is optional in the past tense. It is usually considered archaic.
The subjunctive is only slightly productive in modern Dutch, and is mainly restricted to set phrases otherwise.
The plural imperative has fallen out of use as well and was made optional in standard Dutch in the 1940s.

The participles can generally be used as adjectives, and inflect as such as well. When the present participle is used as an adverb or in a predicate (which is rare), either the uninflected or inflected form can be used. Examples:

Ik heb een vallende ster gezien. ("I saw a falling star.")
Het nieuws verspreidt zich als een lopend vuurtje. ("The news spreads like wildfire.")
De gemaakte keuze bleek niet zo geweldig. ("The made choice (the choice that had been made) turned out to be not so great.")
Gebroken glas is gevaarlijk. ("Broken glass is dangerous.")
Al doende leert men. ("One learns while doing.")

The infinitive can be used in larger verb phrases, much as in English. But it also doubles as a verbal noun (gerund), corresponding to the English verbal noun in -ing. The Dutch verbal noun is neuter and has no plural form.

Het doden van mensen is verboden. ("The killing of people is forbidden.", more freely "Killing people is forbidden.")
Ik heb een hekel aan wachten. ("I hate waiting.")

Weak verbs

For a list of words relating to Dutch weak verbs, see the Dutch weak verbs category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Strong verbs

For a list of words relating to Dutch strong verbs, see the Dutch strong verbs category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Mixed Verbs

For a list of words relating to Dutch mixed verbs, see the Dutch mixed verbs category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A number of verbs mix the strong and weak types of past. They have a strong past participle but all the other past tense forms are weak, or the other way around.

lachen, lachte, gelachen ("laugh, laughed, laughed", weak past, strong past participle)
zouten, zoutte, gezouten ("salt, salted, salted", weak past, strong past participle)
vragen, vroeg, gevraagd ("ask, asked, asked", strong past, weak past participle)

Preterite-presents and other irregular verbs

For a list of words relating to Dutch preterite-present verbs, see the Dutch preterite-present verbs category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

For a list of words relating to Dutch irregular verbs, see the Dutch irregular verbs category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Some of the most used verbs in the Dutch language have irregular conjugations which don't follow the normal rules. This includes especially the preterite-present verbs. These verbs historically had present tense forms that resembled the past tenses of strong verbs, and can be recognised in modern Dutch by the absence of the -t in the third-person singular present (the English equivalents lack the -s in the same way). Preterite-present verbs have weak past tenses, but often irregularly formed. Many of these verbs are now used as auxiliary verbs. For example, the verbs zullen ("shall, be going to") and mogen "may, to be allowed":

Indicative mood
Infinitive	zullen
	Present	Past
1st sing.	zal	zou
2nd sing. jij	zul(t), zal	zou
2nd sg+pl gij	zult	zou(dt)
2nd sg+pl u	zult, zal	zou
3rd sing.	zal	zou
Plural	zullen	zouden
Subjunctive mood
	Present	Past
Singular	zulle	zoude
Plural	zullen	zouden
Imperative mood
General	—
Plural	—
Participles
	Present	Past
	—	—

Indicative mood
Infinitive	mogen
	Present	Past
1st sing.	mag	mocht
2nd sing. jij	mag	mocht
2nd sg+pl gij	moogt	mocht
2nd sg+pl u	mag	mocht
3rd sing.	mag	mocht
Plural	mogen	mochten
Subjunctive mood
	Present	Past
Singular	moge	mochte
Plural	mogen	mochten
Imperative mood
General	—
Plural	—
Participles
	Present	Past
	mogend	gemogen

Several other verbs have irregularities, ranging from minor to severe. The verbs zijn ("to be") and hebben ("to have") are frequently used and very irregular.

Indicative mood
Infinitive	zijn
	Present	Past
1st sing.	ben	was
2nd sing. jij	ben(t)	was
2nd sg+pl gij	zijt	waart
2nd sg+pl u	bent, is (archaic)	was
3rd sing.	is	was
Plural	zijn	waren
Subjunctive mood
	Present	Past
Singular	zij	ware
Plural	zijn	waren
Imperative mood
General	wees, ben (colloquial)
Plural	weest
Participles
	Present	Past
	zijnd	geweest

Indicative mood
Infinitive	hebben
	Present	Past
1st sing.	heb	had
2nd sing. jij	heb(t)	had
2nd sg+pl gij	hebt	had(t)
2nd sg+pl u	hebt, heeft	had
3rd sing.	heeft	had
Plural	hebben	hadden
Subjunctive mood
	Present	Past
Singular	hebbe	hadde
Plural	hebben	hadden
Imperative mood
General	heb
Plural	hebt
Participles
	Present	Past
	hebbend	gehad

Numerals

Dutch uses a decimal numeral system. Numerals are not inflected.

0-9

The numbers from 0 to 9 are:

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
nul	een	twee	drie	vier	vijf	zes	zeven	acht	negen

Note that een is the same word as the indefinite article in the written language. When confusion is possible, the number is often written as één to distinguish it from the article. The pronunciation differentiates them in speech: the article is /ən/, the numeral is /eːn/.

10-19

The numbers 10, 11 and 12 are irregular. 13 to 19 are formed by adding -tien ("-teen") to the base number. Two are slightly irregular: 13 is dertien with metathesis (compare English thirteen), and 14 is veertien.

10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
tien	elf	twaalf	dertien	veertien	vijftien	zestien	zeventien	achttien	negentien

20-99

The decades 20 to 90 are formed by adding -tig ("-ty") to the base number. However, some are slightly irregular: 20 is twintig, 30 and 40 are dertig and veertig (comparable to 13 and 14 above), 80 is tachtig. The remaining decades, although spelled beginning with v and z, are often pronounced beginning with voiceless /f/ and /s/ even in dialects that do not devoice these consonants normally.

10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90
tien	twintig	dertig	veertig	vijftig	zestig	zeventig	tachtig	negentig

Combinations of a decade and a unit are constructed in a regular way: the unit comes first, followed by en ("and"), followed by the decade. No spaces are written between them, and a diaeresis is added when necessary. For example:

28 achtentwintig ("eight and twenty")
83 drieëntachtig ("three and eighty")
99 negenennegentig ("nine and ninety")

Hundreds

100 is honderd. Multiples of 100 are expressed by placing the multiple before honderd, without any spaces: 200 tweehonderd, 300 driehonderd and so on. Sometimes multiples higher than 10 can be used as synonyms for the thousands, such as 1100 elfhonderd, 2500 vijfentwintighonderd.

Combinations of a hundred and a lower number are expressed by just placing them together, with the hundred coming first. Sometimes, en is added in between, but this is optional and not commonly done nowadays.

112 honderdtwaalf or honderdentwaalf
698 zeshonderdachtennegentig
1258 twaalfhonderdachtenvijftig

Thousands

1000 is duizend. Unlike in English, this is not preceded by an article. The same system used for naming the hundreds applies to the thousands as well, so multiples of 1000 are expressed by writing the multiple right before: 2000 tweeduizend, 3000 drieduizend, 20000 twintigduizend, 999000 negenhonderdnegenennegentigduizend.

Combinations of a thousand and a lower number are expressed by placing them together, with the thousand coming first. A space is written between them.

1 258 duizend tweehonderdachtenvijftig
9 001 negenduizend een
32 348 tweeëndertigduizend driehonderdachtenveertig
123 456 honderddrieëntwintigduizend vierhonderdzesenvijftig

Millions and above

Dutch always uses the long scale system.

1 000 000 miljoen
1 000 000 000 miljard
1 000 000 000 000 biljoen
1 000 000 000 000 000 biljard
etc.

Multiples of any of these are similar to the thousands, but a space is written between the multiple and the "million": 2 000 000 twee miljoen, 420 000 000 000 vierhonderdtwintig miljard. If the multiple is 1, it must also be present, unlike with the thousands where it's left out: 1 000 000 een miljoen.

Combinations with lower numbers are much the same as with the thousands.

117 401 067 honderdzeventien miljoen vierhonderdeenduizend zevenenzestig
10 987 654 321 tien miljard negenhonderdzevenentachtig miljoen zeshonderdvierenvijftigduizend driehonderdeenentwintig

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers behave and inflect like superlative adjectives. They always appear in the inflected form, always ending in -e, and are usually preceded by a definite article of some kind.

The ordinal adjectives are formed by adding either -de or -ste to the base number. Which one is added depends on the word. The numbers 1 and 3 have irregular ordinals.

1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
eerste	tweede	derde	vierde	vijfde	zesde	zevende	achtste	negende
10th	11th	12th	13-19th	20-90th	100th	1 000th	1 000 000th+	1 000 000 000th+
tiende	elfde	twaalfde	-tiende	-tigste	honderdste	duizendste	-joenste	-jardste

When a number is composed of multiple parts, the ending is added only to the last part of the word, and follows the rules for that word. Thus, 21st eenentwintigste, 409th vierhonderdnegende, 9001st negenduizend eerste.

Fractional numbers

Fractional numbers are expressed using a cardinal number for the numerator, and an ordinal for the denominator, like in English.

1/5 een vijfde
3/8 drie achtste

1/2 and 1/4 are een half ("a half") and een kwart ("a quarter") respectively, although the regular een tweede and een vierde are also possible, but rarer. In 3/4, the space is often left out: driekwart.

When combined with a full cardinal, the full cardinal comes first and they are separated by en and spaces. The word en can be left out if the numerator is not 1.

9 3/4 negen (en) driekwart
5 1/6 vijf en een zesde
3 1/2 drie en een half

The combination 1 1/2 is usually expressed irregularly as anderhalf, which literally means "other half" (ander was originally a synonym of tweede, and this combination meant "second, minus a half").

Iterative numbers

These express repetition, like "once" or "five times". They are formed with a cardinal number followed by maal or keer (both meaning "times").

twee maal/keer ("two times, twice")
negen maal/keer ("nine times")
honderd maal/keer ("a hundred times")

The space is often left out for the combinations eenmaal ("once"), tweemaal ("twice") and driemaal ("thrice"), but not with keer.

There are also ordinal forms of these, which express an iteration within a sequence of repetitions. They are formed with an ordinal instead of a cardinal, and act as masculine nouns.

de eerste keer/maal ("the first time")
de dertigste keer/maal ("the thirtieth time")

Multiplicative numbers

These express a multiple of something. They are formed with the suffix -voud ("-fold"), and are neuter nouns.

tweevoud ("a twofold, multiple of two")
drievoud ("a threefold, multiple of three")
honderdvoud ("a hundredfold, multiple of hundred")

For the number 1, enkelvoud ("singularity, simplicity, a onefold") is used, which is derived from enkel ("single") rather than een. The "regular" form eenvoud instead means "simpleness, uncomplicatedness, ease".

Adjectives are formed by adding -ig to this, giving the combination -voudig.

tweevoudig ("double, twofold")
drievoudig ("triple, threefold")
honderdvoudig ("hundredfold")

Again, enkelvoudig ("single, simple, onefold") is used for 1, and eenvoudig means "simple, uncomplicated, easy". Alternatively, the word enkel ("single") can be used alone. An alternative for tweevoudig is dubbel.

Notes

↑ http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/kost006dutc01/kost006dutc01_001.htm
↑ http://www.let.rug.nl/~zwart/college/docs/zinsleer/zinsleer6.pdf
↑ http://users.fmg.uva.nl/vderooij/atw/week5.html
↑ "Hun of hen?". Onze Taal Taaladviesdienst. Retrieved 2007-05-23.
↑ "Hun hebben?". Onze Taal Taaladviesdienst. Retrieved 2007-05-23.

References

Audring, Jenny. (2006) Pronominal Gender in Spoken Dutch. Amsterdam: Journal of Germanic Linguistics 18.2 (2006):85-116
Donaldson, Bruce. (1997) Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar. Oxford: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-15419-7.
van Riemsdijk, Henk (ed). (1999) Clitics in the Languages of Europe. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-015751-9
van Riemsdijk, Henk. (1978) A Case Study in Syntactic Markedness: The Binding Nature of Prepositional Phrases. Dordrecht: Foris.

External links

Algemene Nederlandse Spraakkunst, a comprehensive grammar of Dutch which is viewable online (in Dutch)
Beginning Learner's Grammar of Dutch (UCL)
Advanced Learner's Grammar of Dutch (UCL)
www.dutchgrammar.com
Dutch Flashcards

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