Dutch Language Blog

In Dutch there are two forms of subject pronouns: the regular pronoun and the pronoun for emphasis. In English we tend to use our tone of voice to show the emphasis, but in Dutch you can use your tone of voice plus an emphasized subject pronoun to make such a distinction.

The regular subject pronouns with a regular present tense verb are as follows:

First person singular:

Ik werk: I work

Second person singular:

Je werkt : You work

U werkt : You (formal) work

Third person singular:

Hij werkt : He works

Ze werkt : She works

Het werkt : It works

First person plural:

We werken : We work

Second person plural:

Jullie werken : You all work

Third person plural:

Ze werken : They work

In Dutch we can also use the subject pronouns to show a contrast.

Nee, ik ga niet naar het feestje, maar zij gaat naar het feestje.

-No, I am not going to the party, but she is going to the party.

Emphasized subject pronouns do not exist for all subject pronouns. Pay careful attention to which emphasized subject pronouns match the regular subject pronoun:

Second person singular:

Je werkt : Jij werkt

Third person singular:

Ze werkt : Zij werkt

First person plural:

We werken : Wij werken

Third person plural:

Ze werken : Zij werken

Here are a few more examples:

1. Ik heb een nieuwe fiets gekocht met mijn vakantiegeld. Zij heeft haar vakantiegeld gespaard.

-I have bought a new bicycle with my vacation money. She has saved her vacation money.

2. Wie heeft het laatst koekje opgegeten?

-Who ate the last cookie?

Sorry, hoor. Wij hebben alle koekjes opgegeten.

-Sorry. We ate all the cookies.

3. Hij vond de film interesant, maar zij vond de film saai.

-He found the film interesting, but she found the film boring.

Here are a few questions. Try to answer them with an emphasized subject pronoun.

Met wie wil je op vakantie gaan?

Komt hij uit Frankrijk?

Willen jullie iets drinken?

Weet je wie vlakbij het park woont?

One of the more tricky parts of the Dutch language are the definite articles. As a non-native Dutch speaker, this is one of the more difficult things for me to get correct, and if you haven’t noticed already, I still occasionally mess it up every now and again. At least as a non-native Dutch speaker I get granted a certain amount of leniency by the very patient Dutch people around me, because if you use the wrong one, you will usually still be understood. But it’s still very important to learn, so let’s get down to some nitty-gritty grammar.

Without further ado…

In English we have the definite article the. In Dutch we have the definite articles de and het.

For example:

de auto: the car

het huis: the house

De and het serve the same function as the in English. What makes it all so tricky is that there are no simple rules for determining if a word is a de word, or a het word. Apparently all native Dutch speakers come equipped with a de/het determining radar, but alas you and I must somehow try to make some sense of it all. Do not despair, there are a few tricks to help us out along the way.

1. The first clue is that around 80 percent of Dutch words are de words. If you really aren’t certain, just stick with de. If you chose the wrong one, it’s okay. More often than not, if you make a  de/het error, you will still be understood.

2. The second clue is that all plural words are always de words. All the time. No exceptions.

Examples (keep your eye out for spelling changes with plurals here):

het huis = de huizen [the house(s)]

het jaar = de jaren    [the year(s)]

het restaurant = de restaurants    [the restaurant(s)]

de stoel = de stoelen    [the chair(s)]

de kat = de katten    [the cat(s)]

de tafel = de tafels    [the table(s)]

3. A third clue is in the ending of the word. If a word ends in -je, -pje, -asme, -isme, -um, or -sel the word is a HET word.

For example:

het huisje: the little house

het filmpje: the little film

het enthousiasme: the enthusiasm

het feminisme: (the) feminism

het universum: the universe

het verschijnsel: the phenomenon

4. A fourth clue is yet another ending of the word. If a word ends in -held, -ie, -ica or -ing it is a DE word.

For example:

de gezondheid: the health

de situatie: the situation

de grammatica: the grammar

de ontdekking: the discovery/finding

5. The fifth clue isn’t really a clue at all, and I offer my deepest apologies and sympathies for it. You simply have to memorize whether or not a word is de or het. A tip for making it less tedious is to keep a list of het words as you learn them, and remember that these are het words. Otherwise, assume you have a de word on your hands.

If you are really very curious about de and het words, there are resources available that go into even more complicated rules for determining whether a word is de or het. I don’t recommend doing it unless you want a headache. After you have read the rules you will only discover there are more exceptions to the rules than words that follow the rules. But over time, with lots of practice, you’ll start to develop a small de/het determining radar as well.

Making words plural in Dutch is usually straightforward.  I’m a stickler for grammar rules and straightforward makes me a little happier. Here are some rules for turning one cookie into two cookies, or one euro into 100 euros.

The rules for making a word plural are this simple: just add -en, -s, or -es to the end of a word.  But of course, you would love to know when to add -en, -s, or -es. Here are some rules to follow and keep an eye out for how the other letters in the word change in order to keep the vowel sounds short or long.

1. The basic way to make a plural in Dutch is to add -en. So….

de boom : de bomen [the tree(s)]

de man : de mannen [the man / the men]

de taal : de talen [the language(s)]

de kat : de katten [the cat(s)]

het spel : de spellen [the game(s)]

2. When to add -s:

If the word ends in an unstressed -el, -en, or -er…add -s.  In the following examples, the underlined sections represent the syllable where the stress falls when you say the word out loud.

de winkel : de winkels [the shop(s)]

de tafel : de tafels [the table(s)]

de vogel : vogels [the bird(s)]

het leger : de legers [the army / the armies)

3. When to add an apostrophe + -s:

If a word ends in a vowel, add an apostrophe +-s.

de radio = de radio's [the radio(s)]

de auto = de auto‘s [the car(s)]

de taxi = de taxi‘s [the taxi(s)]

de video = de video‘s [the video(s)]

And wouldn’t it be nice if these rules worked all the time? But of course, there are exceptions. Here are a few examples of common words that break the rules.

de stad : de steden  [the city / the cities]

het kind : de kinderen  [the child / the childeren]

het ei : de eieren  [the egg(s)]

het lid : de leden  [the member(s)]

de weg : de wegen  [the road(s)]