Learn Dutch

Dutch Lesson 2

Classroom - Dutch, Learn Dutch / By

Lesson 2: Articles and Gender

Articles

Apparently you’ve succesfully finished lesson one, so now we can continue with the second lesson. In this lesson you’ll learn how to describe certain objects. First of all, we are going to teach you articles. In the previous lesson you learned how to say “He is father” but that sounds a little bit tarzan-like. Wouldn’t it sound better if you could say “He is a father” or “He is the father” ? That’s what you’ll learn now. Take a look at these Dutch sentences:
 Hij is een vader  He is a father
 Zij is de moeder  She is the mother
 Het is de stoel  It is the chair
 Het is een stoel  It is a chair
 Het is een huis  It is a house
 Het is het huis  It is the house
It looks pretty logical at the beginning. You’ll quickly notice that “een” is the correct Dutch translation of “a” and “an”. But what’s the correct translation of “the”? You see two different Dutch word for “the”, you see “de” and “het”, but which one is the right one? Of course they are both right, otherwise we wouldn’t show them to you.

Gender

But how can it be possible that the word “the” has two translations in Dutch? This has to do with the difficult concept of noun gender, a concept not known in English but is in almost every other language. In most other languages a noun has a certain gender. So you’re telling me a noun can be a boy or a girl? Indeed…that’s what we’re saying. A noun has a certain gender in Dutch (and many other Germanic languages). There are three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. Every noun (note that this gender concept only applies to nouns) has one of these three genders. How to determine what gender is very hard. In Dutch gender is not very imporant because it doesn’t effect many grammar rules. But nevertheless some grammar rules are dependent of the gender of the noun, so you’ll have to learn the gender of each noun. One grammar rule that is gender-dependent is the formation of the definite articles, in other words, how “the” is translated in Dutch. When the noun to which the article applies is a masculine or feminine noun, then “the” is translated as “de”. If the article applies to a neuter noun, then the article that has to be used is “het”. That’s why we said “het huis” and “de stoel”; “huis” is a neuter word and “stoel” is a masculine or feminine word (most Dutch people can’t even tell this. The difference between masculine and feminine isn’t very important in Dutch, but for those who want to know, it is a masculine word).

Hebben – to have

In this lesson we’ll also introduce another irregular Dutch verb, the verb “hebben”, which means “to have”. Take a look at the full conjugation and translation of this verb:
 Ik heb  I have
 Jij hebt  You have
 Hij/Zij/Het heeft  He/she/it has
 Wij hebben  We have
 Jullie hebben  You have
 Zij hebben  They have
Now you’ve learned a new verb, memorize it.

Summary

In this lesson you’ve learned the concept of noun gender, what articles to use, and another irregular verb.

Vocabulary

Learn the following words. The words of the previous lesson are mentioned again, but this time we also show what definite article to use.

Vocabulary

 de vader  the father
 de moeder  the mother
 de oma  the grandmother
 de opa  the grandfather
 de stoel  the chair
 het huis  the house
 de tafel  the table
 de kat  the cat
 de hond  the dog
 het bot  the bone
 het dier  the animal
 het gebouw  the building

Exercises

Exercise A: Translate to English: 1) Een kat is een dier. 2) Het huis is een gebouw. 3) De hond heeft een bot. 4) Ik heb een kat. 5) De vader heeft een huis. 6) De vader en de moeder hebben een hond. 7) Jullie hebben een huis. Exercise B: Translate to Dutch: 1) The grandmother has a cat. 2) A cat is an animal. 3) The table has a chair. 4) The grandmother and the grandfather have a dog. 5) The mother has a dog and the father has a cat. 6) We have a table. 7) They have the house.

Solutions

Solution of Exercise A: 1) A cat is an animal. 2) The house is a building. 3) The dog has a bone. 4) I have a cat. 5) The father has a house. 6) The father and the mother have a dog. 7) You have a house. Solution of Exercise B: 1) De oma heeft een kat. 2) Een kat is een dier. 3) De tafel heeft een stoel. 4) De oma en de opa hebben een hond. 5) De moeder heeft een hond en de vader heeft een kat. 6) Wij hebben een tafel. 7) Zij hebben het huis.
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Dutch Lesson 1

Classroom - Dutch, Learn Dutch / By

Dutch for BeginnersDutch is quite a difficult language. It’s not very widely spoken, but it’s certainly a difficult language to learn and to pronounce. Dutch is, of course the native language of The Netherlands, and also of Northern Belgium (Flanders). The Belgians have a very typical accent. you immediately notice whether a person is from Holland or Belgium. Dutch is a language of Germanic origin and besides The Netherlands and Belgium, it’s also spoken on the Netherlands Antilles, Suriname and many people in Indonesia also speak it (all former colonies of The Netherlands). And in South-Africa, they speak a language derived from Dutch: Afrikaans.

Part one of this course is only intended for absolute beginners.

Part One – The Basics

Lesson 1: To Be

Welcome to the Dutch course here at UniLang. We want to help you learn foreign languages and we hope this little course can help. Of course we also have a big grammar reference and a list of vocabulary available for you to study. These courses in part one are intended for absolute beginners who need a little assistance with starting to learn some basics, so this is not a complete course. When we’ve shown you the most important basics we’ll let go you and then you can explore our grammar reference all by yourself. Before you continue you must do two things. First of all, make sure you are familiar with all the basic grammar terms. Do you know what a noun is? What a verb is? What an adverb is? You can then secondly take a peek at the Dutch pronunciation page.

Introductions

We’ll start by teaching you how to introduce yourself in Dutch. Take a look at the following Dutch sentence and it’s English translation. All Dutch text will be written in blue and the English translation in green. “Ik ben Robert” “I am Robert” Here we see your very first Dutch sentence where you introduce yourself as Robert, a fictional person. You should of course replace the name with your own name. Although the sentence consists of only three words we are going to carefully examine each word. The first word “Ik” is the Dutch equivalent of the English word “I”, also referred to as 1st person singular. It’s a subject pronoun. The second word “ben” is a verb. It’s a conjugation of the irregular Dutch verb “zijn”, which is the Dutch equivalent of “to be”. Now we’ve seen how to introduce yourself using “ik ben” but we can also introduce other people, take a look at the following examples:
 Ik ben Robert  I am Robert
 Jij bent Robert  You are Robert
 Hij is Robert  He is Robert
 Zij is Roberta  She is Roberta
 Het is Robert  It is Robert
 Wij zijn Robert en Paul  We are Robert and Paul
 Jullie zijn Robert en Paul  You are Robert and Paul
 Zij zijn Robert en Paul  They are Robert and Paul
Thats alot of new words, but it’s all very easy. Now that you’ve seen all subject pronouns in Dutch, you know how to refer to people. And besides that, you’ve also learned your first Dutch verb, an irregular verb: “Zijn”, in English “To be”. There is also a small new word that appeared in this lesson, the Dutch words “en”, which means “and”. It’s also a good exercise to try to pronounce every Dutch sentence you see on this page, and when you’re uncertain of how to pronounce a certain character or group of characters then go to the pronunciation page.

Summary

In this lesson you’ve learned two aspects of Dutch grammar, you’ve learned the subject pronouns and you’ve learned the full conjugation of the irregular Dutch verb “zijn”.

Vocabulary

We’ll ask you to study a number of words in each lesson , this time we’ll give you a couple of very easy words to study. Learn them in both directions! English-Dutch and Dutch-English.

Vocabulary

 vader  father
 moeder  mother
 oma  grandmother
 opa  grandfather

Exercises

Each lesson will come with some exercises so you can practice the grammar and vocabulary of this lesson. Exercise A: Translate to English: 1) Hij is Robert. 2) Het is vader. 3) Zij zijn Robert en Piet. 4) Zij is moeder. 5) Jij bent oma. 6) Jullie zijn opa. 7) Wij zijn George en William. Exercise B: Translate to Dutch: 1) We are James and Jane. 2) They are father. 3) I am mother. 4) She is grandmother. 5) They are Robert and Paul. 6) You are George and William. 7) You are grandfather.

Solutions

After you’ve done the exercises you can check whether your answer is correct using the following solutions: Solution of Exercise A: 1) He is Robert. 2) It is father. 3) They are Robert and Piet. 4) She is mother. 5) You are grandmother. 6) You are grandfather. 7) We are George and William. Solution of Exercise B: 1) Wij zijn James en Jane. 2) Zij zijn vader. 3) Ik ben moeder. 4) Zij is oma. 5) Zij zijn Robert en Paul. 6) Jullie zijn George en William. 7) Jij bent opa.
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Dutch Lesson 3

Classroom - Dutch, Learn Dutch / By

Lesson 3: Formal Pronouns, Possessive Adjectives, and Plural Nouns

Formality

Before we teach you how to tell that something belongs to a certain person we first have to teach you how to be polite in Dutch. In Dutch and most other languages, but not in English, there exists a certain polite form of “you”. In Dutch they say “U” instead of “jij” in formal speech. “jij” is only used among friends and for children. Verbs after “U” are also conjugated differently, usually like after 2nd person singular (“jij”), but sometimes like after 3rd person singular (“hij”). Take a look at the following sample sentences:
 Jij bent oma.  You are grandmother.
 U bent oma.  You are grandmother.
 Jij hebt een hond.  You have a dog.
 U heeft een hond.  You have a dog.

Possesion

Now that you know how to be polite we’ll continue with indicating possession. We’re gonna teach you the so-called “possessive pronouns” or “possessive adjectives”. At the same time you’ll learn how to translate “this” and “that” (demonstrative pronouns). Here are a couple of new sentences:
 Dat is mijn stoel.  That is my chair.
 Dit is jouw stoel.  This is your chair.
 Dat is uw stoel.  That is your chair. (This is the polite/formal form)
 Dat is zijn stoel.  That is his chair. (Don’t confuse the pronoun “zijn” with the verb “zijn”!)
 Dit is haar stoel.  This is her chair.
 Dat is onze stoel.  That is our chair.
 Dit is jullie stoel.  This is your chair.
 Dat is hun stoel.  That is their chair.
 Deze stoel  This chair
 Dit huis  This house
 Die stoel  That chair
 Dat huis  That house
You’ve learned a couple of things now. First of all you know that “this” is “dit” and “that” is “dat” in Dutch. But this only applies when those pronouns appear before the verb “zijn”. When they are used adjectively (next to the noun) then these words become gender dependent: “this” is “dit” (with neuter nouns) or “deze” (with masculine/feminine nouns) and “that” is “dat” (with neuter nouns) or “die” (with masculine/feminine nouns). You’ve also seen the possessive adjectives and you probably noticed that possessive adjectives also have a formal form.

Plural nouns

Now it’s time to learn plural nouns. Until now you’ve only seen singular nouns such as “house” and “chair”, but now we’ll teach you how to form a plural noun (“houses”, “chairs”) in Dutch. There are several rules that apply to forming plural nouns. Take a look at the following examples: “Boek – Boeken Paard – Paarden, Zak – Zakken, Tas – Tassen, Rivier – Rivieren, Oog – Ogen, Aap – Apen, Zaal – Zalen, Toon – Tonen” When a syllable ends in a consonant you can usually add -en, but you might need to repeat the consonant when a single vowel precedes the consonant and you want the tone not to change. You also usually need to reduce two equal vowels that immediately precede the ending consonant to just one single vowel: When a syllable ends with an S that is preceded by two vowels then the S will usually be replaced by a Z and EN will be added: “Muis – Muizen , Kaas – Kazen, Doos – Dozen” When a syllable ends on -el, -er or -en then an S is added. Also modern words and words derived from English get an extra S when made plural: “Sleutel – Sleutels, Luidspreker – Luidsprekers, Vinger – Vingers, Toren – Torens, Cirkel – Cirkels” Words that end in a vowel get ‘S: Foto – Foto‘s, Camera – Camera‘s Note that with pointing at plural nouns, you use different demonstrative pronouns, just like in English. Instead of “these” the Dutch say “deze” and instead of “those” they say “die”, irregardless of the gender of the noun. To make things even more confusing, when the demonstrative pronoun is separated by a form of the verb “zijn”, then the demonstrative pronoun always appears as if the noun is singular, even when it’s plural. Some samples:
 Deze muizen  These mice
 Die huizen  Those houses
BUT WHEN SEPARATED BY “ZIJN”:
 Dat zijn boeken.  Those are books.
 Dit zijn sleutels.  These are keys.
About the articles: when a noun is plural then the concept of noun gender doesn’t matter anymore. “het” is never used with plural nouns. Instead, “de” is used, even when the noun has neuter gender. The indefinite article (“een”) is always omitted when dealing with plural nouns, just like in English (We never say “a houses”). That’s enough material for this lesson.

Vocabulary

 het boek  the book
 het paard  the horse
 de rivier  the river
 het oog  the eye
 de aap  the monkey
 de muis  the mouse
 de sleutel  the key
 de vinger  the finger
 de toren  the tower
 de cirkel  the circle
 de foto  the photo
 de camera  the camera
 hier  here
 daar  there
 veel  much/many

Exercises

Exercise A: Translate to English: 1) Dat zijn mijn foto’s. 2) Een aap heeft vingers. 3) Dit zijn hun sleutels. 4) Zijn boeken zijn hier. 5) Zij zijn hier. 6) Ik heb veel paarden. 7) Jij hebt onze camera. 8) Zij heeft uw sleutel. 9) Dit zijn jullie foto’s. 10) Jij hebt deze boeken. 11) Wij hebben die camera’s. Exercise B: Translate to Dutch: 1) We have many fingers. 2) These are my eyes. 3) That is his key. 4) This is your book and these are your dogs. (spoken to a stranger) 5) I have those photos. 6) Her books are there. 7) They have the house. 8) This house is your house. (spoken to a dear friend) 9) You are their grandmother. (use formal speech) 10) Here is our camera. 11) The houses have many keys.

Solutions

Solution of Exercise A: 1) Those are my photos. 2) A monkey has fingers. 3) These are their keys. 4) His books are here. 5) They are here. 6) I have many horses. 7) You have our camera. 8) She has your key. 9) These are your photos. 10) You have these books. 11) We have those cameras. Solution of Exercise B: 1) Wij hebben veel vingers. 2) Dit zijn mijn ogen. 3) Dat is zijn sleutel. 4) Dit is uw boek en dit zijn uw honden. 5) Ik heb die foto’s. 6) Haar boeken zijn daar. 7) Zij hebben het huis. 8) Dit huis is jouw huis. 9) Uw bent hun oma. 10) Hier is onze camera. 11) De huizen hebben veel sleutels.
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Dutch Intro

Classroom - Dutch, Learn Dutch / By

 Introduction to Dutch

Dutch is classified as a West Germanic language which is closely related to other languages in this branch, including German, English and West Frisian. Dutch is spoken as a first language by approximately 20 million people, mostly in the Netherlands and Belgium. It is spoken as a second language by approximately another 5 million. In addition to The Netherlands and Belgium, Dutch is also used in parts of Northern France, Germany, Suriname and Indonesia and is an official language on the Caribbean islands of The Netherland Antilles. Learning Dutch might not be the easiest thing in the world, it’s also certainly not the toughest thing: grammar and spelling are tied to strict rules that usually can be explained in a few lines. Dutch Nouns The Dutch language classifies all of its nouns into one of two genders — common (de words) or neuter (het words). This is much less complicated than German , which has three.
  • It can be difficult to guess which gender a word is based on how it looks. Therefore, it’s better to just memorize the gender of specific words as you learn them.
  • The common gender is actually a combined form of the masculine and feminine genders, which are no longer used. As a result, about 2/3 of all nouns belong to the common gender.
Dutch Verbs As you progress on your journey towards learning Dutch, it is a good idea to memorize some of the most commonly used present tense verbs as they are necessary to start forming sentences. Zijn: Present tense of “to be”, pronounced “zayn”. Ik ben:      I am (“ik ben”) Jij/u bent:   You are ( “yay / ew bent”) Hij/zij / het is:   He/she/it is ( “hay/zay/ut is) Wij zijn:   We are ( “vay zayn”) Jullie zijn:   You are ( “yew-lee zayn”) Zij zijn:    They are ( “zay zayn”) Hebben: Present tense of “to have”, pronounced “heh-buhn”. Ik heb:   I have ( “ik hep”) Jij/u hebt:   You have ( “yay/ew hept”) Hij/zij/het heeft:  He/she/it has ( “hay/zay/ut hayft”) Wij hebben:   We have ( “vay heh-buhn) Jullie hebben:   You have (“yew-lee heh-buhn”) Zij hebben:  They have ( “zay heh-buhn”) Days of the week in Dutch:
  • Monday = Maandag (pronounced “mahn-dahg”)
  • Tuesday = Dinsdag (“dinss-dahg”)
  • Wednesday = Woensdag (“woons-dahg”)
  • Thursday = Donderdag ( “don-duhr-dahg”)
  • Friday = Vrijdag (p “vray-dahg”)
  • Saturday = Zaterdag ( “zah-tuhr-dahg”)
  • Sunday = Zondag ( “zon-dahg”)
   Months of the year:
  • January = Januari (pronounced “jahn-uu-ar-ree”),
  • February = Februari (“fay-bruu-ah-ree”),
  • March = Maart ( “mahrt”),
  • April = April (“ah-pril”),
  • May = Mei ( “may”),
  • June = Juni ( “yuu-nee”),
  • July = Juli ( “yuu-lee”),
  • August = Augustus ( “ow-ghus-tus”),
  • September = September ( “sep-tem-buhr”),
  • October = Oktober ( “ock-tow-buhr”),
  • November = November ( “no-vem-buhr”),
  • December = December ( “day-sem-buhr”).

 Dutch Genders:

About de en het One of the most frustrating things for those who learn Dutch as a foreign language is to identify which is a het word and which is a de word. Let me give you a few hints that should make it a bit easier. To begin with the reason for all this: there are masculine words, feminine words and neuter words. All masculine and feminine words get de while all neuter words get het. The Dutch language classifies all of its nouns into one of two genders — common (de words) or neuter (het words). The common gender is actually a combined form of the masculine and feminine genders.
  • It can be difficult to guess which gender a word is based on how it looks. Therefore, it’s better to just memorize the gender of specific words as you learn them.
  • About 2/3 of all nouns belong to the common gender.
Counting is an important skill in any language, so start by learning the numbers one through twenty in Dutch.
    • Een: One (pronounced “ain”)
    • Twee: Two ( “tway”)
    • Drie: Three ( “dree”)
    • Vier: Four ( “veer”)
    • Vijf: Five ( “vayf”)
    • Zes: Six ( “zehs”)
    • Zeven: Seven (“zay-vuhn”)
    • Acht: Eight ( “ahgt”)
    • Negen: Nine ( “nay-guhn”)
    • Tien: Ten ( “teen”)
    • Elf: Eleven (  “elf”)
    • Twaalf: Twelve ( “twahlf”)
    • Dertien: Thirteen ( “dehr-teen”)
    • Veertien: Fourteen ( “vayr-teen”)
    • Vijftien: Fifteen (“vayf-teen”)
    • Zestien: Sixteen ( “zehs-teen”)
    • Zeventien: Seventeen (“zay-vuhn-teen”)
    • Achttien: Eighteen ( “ahgt-teen”)
    • Negentien: Nineteen ( “nay-guhn-teen”)
    • Twintig: Twenty (“twin-tuhg”)
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Dutch Pronunciation

Classroom - Dutch, Learn Dutch / By

Dutch Pronunciation

Dutch letters English sound
ch / g guttural sound, made at back of mouth
sch s followed by guttural ch sound
w like v before r, otherwise like w but with bottom lip against top teeth
v like v, but sometimes closer to f
r either rolled or guttural
j y as in yes
sj sh as in ship
tj ch as in chip
aa ah as in father, but longer
ee ay as in hail, but shorter
ie ee as in neat, but shorter
oo oh as in boat
oe oo as in pool, but shorter
eu ur as in hurt, but with lips rounded
uu ew, but with lips rounded (sound not found in English)
a ah as in father, but shorter
e eh as in bed
i ih as in bit
o aw as in paw, with lips rounded
u ir as in dirt, but very short
ei / ij between the sounds in “light” and “late”
aai combination of aa and ie
oei combination of oe and ie
ooi combination of oo and ie
ou / au like ow, as in house
eeuw combination of ee and oe
ieuw combination of ie and oe
uw combination of uu and oe
ui combination of a and uu
The consonants s, f, h, b, d, z, l, m, n, and ng are pronounced the same way in Dutch as in English. P, t, and k are pronounced without the puff of air (called aspiration.) Sometimes the g is pronounced like zh in words borrowed from French. One last vowel sound is found in various Dutch spellings. It is pronounced like uh, as in along or sofa. For example, this sound is found in de (the), een (a), aardig (nice), and vriendelijk (kind).  ]]>

Dutch lessons-Personal Pronouns, Nouns

Classroom - Dutch, Learn Dutch / By

Dutch Personal Pronouns

Singular
Person Dutch English
1st ik I
2nd je (unstressed), jij (stressed) you (informal)
2nd u you (formal)
3rd hij he
3rd ze (unstressed), zij(stressed) she
3rd het it
Plural
Person Dutch English
1st we (unstressed), wij (stressed) we
2nd jullie you (informal)
2nd u you (formal)
3rd ze (unstressed), zij (stressed) they
Verb ‘to be’ – ‘zijn’ Het werkwoord “zijn” (The verb “to be”):
Dutch English
ik ben  I am
je bent (ben je?) you are (informal, unstressed)
jij bent (ben jij?) you are (informal, stressed)
u bent (bent u?) you are (formal)
hij is he is
ze is she is (unstressed)
zij is she is (stressed)
het is it is
we zijn we are (unstressed)
wij zijn we are (stressed)
jullie zijn you are
ze zijn they are (unstressed)
zij zijn they are (stressed)

Dutch Nouns and Gender

All nouns have a gender in Dutch, either common (de words) or neuter (het words).   It is hard to guess which gender a noun is, so it is best to memorize the genders when memorizing vocabulary. However, two-thirds of Dutch words are common gender (because the common gender has combined the former feminine and masculine genders.) So it may be easier to memorize which nouns are neuter, and then assign common gender to the rest. All diminutives (words ending in -je) and infinitives used as nouns, as well as colors, metals, compass directions, and all words that end in -um, -aat, -sel, -isme are neuter. Most nouns beginning with ge- and ending with -te are neuter, as are most nouns beginning with ge-, be-, and ver-. Common noun endings include: -aar, -ent, -er, -es, -eur, -heid, -ij, -ing, -teit, -tie.

Articles & Demonstratives

common
neuter
Singular “the”
de
het
Plural “the”
de
Indefinite “a” or “an”
een
common neuter
Singular this that deze die dit dat
Plural these those
deze die
The definite article is used more in Dutch than in English. It is always used before the names of the seasons, street names and in an abstract sense. There are some idioms that should be memorized, however: in het Nederlands (in Dutch), in de stad (in town), in het zwart (in black), met de auto (by car), met de tijd (in/with time); op tafel (on the table), in zee (in the sea), op kantoor (at the office), in bad (in the bath), op straat (in the street).

Dutch Subject and Object Pronouns

Subject
Object
I ik (‘k) me mij (me)
you (singular familiar) jij (je) you jou (je)
you (singular formal) u you u
he hij him hem (‘m)
she zij (ze) her haar (ze)
it hij / het it het (‘t)
we wij (we) us ons
you (plural familiar) jullie you jullie (je)
you (plural formal) u you u
they zij (ze) them hen (ze) / hun (ze)

Unstressed forms (shortened forms used mostly in the spoken language) are in parentheses. There are also unstressed forms of ik (‘k), hij (ie) and het (‘t) but these are not written in the standard language. You will see them in informal writing, however (such as on internet forums or sometimes in film subtitles.)

Direct and indirect object pronouns are the same in Dutch, except for “them.”  Hen is used if it is a direct object, and hun is used if it is an indirect object.  Generally, indirect objects are preceded by “to” or “from” in English, and direct objects are not preceded by any prepositions.  Additionally, these object pronouns are used after prepositions.

An alternative way of showing possession without using the possessive pronouns is to use van + object pronoun.  In fact, this is the only way to show possession with the jullie form, as there is no possessive pronoun for it.  This construction corresponds to “of + object” and occurs often in sentences with the verb “to be.”  Is deze pen van jou?  Is this your pen?  Die schoenen zijn niet van mij.  Those shoes are not mine.

If the noun is not present in the clause, then die or dat + van + object pronoun is used. Mijn huis is klein; dat van hem is erg groot.  My house is small; his is very large.

Dutch Verbs To Be & to Have – Zijn and Hebben

Present tense of zijn – to be(zayn)

I am ik ben ik ben we are wij zijn vay zayn
you are jij / u bent yay / ew bent you are jullie zijn yew-lee zayn
he, she, it is hij, zij, het is hay, zay, ut is they are zij zijn zay zayn

Present tense of hebben – to have(heh-buhn)

I have ik heb ik hep we have wij hebben vay heh-buhn
you have jij / u hebt yay / ew hept you have jullie hebben yew-lee heh-buhn
he, she, it is hij, zij, het heeft hay, zay, ut hayft they have zij hebben zay heh-buhn

U heeft rather than u hebt is also possible.

Past tense of zijn – to be(zayn)

I was ik was ik vas we were wij waren vay vah-ruhn
you were jij / u was yay / ew vas you were jullie waren yew-lee vah-ruhn
he, she, it was hij, zij, het was hay, zay, ut vas they were zij waren zay vah-ruhn

Past tense of hebben – to have(heh-buhn)

I had ik had ik haht we had wij hadden vay hah-duhn
you had jij / u had yay / ew haht you had jullie hadden yew-lee hah-duhn
he, she, it had hij, zij, het had hay, zay, ut haht they had zij hadden zay hah-duhn

You must use the subject pronouns; however, I will leave them out of future conjugations since most verbs only have two forms for each conjugation.

Expressions with zijn and hebben: Het/dat is jammer – It’s/that’s a pity jarig zijn – to have a birthday kwijt zijn – to have lost op het punt staan – to be about to van plan zijn – to intend voor elkaar zijn – to be in order honger / dorst hebben – to be hungry / thirsty gelijk hebben – to be right haast hebben – to be in a hurry het hebben over – to talk about het druk hebben – to be busy het koud hebben / warm – to be cold / warm last hebben van – to be bothered by nodig hebben – to need slaap hebben – to be sleepy zin hebben in – to feel like

The Complete Guide to Dutch Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns are words such as I, me, your and it, words which are used to refer to a specific person or actor without having to mention them explicitly. Pronominal forms are a key element of all languages and must be learned early in one’s linguistic journey in order to communicate effectively. This article discusses Dutch personal pronouns and provides an overview of all key information.

Personal pronouns

The below table delineates the basic Dutch personal pronoun system:
Nominative Accusative
Ik I Mij /me Me
Jij/je You Jou/je You
U You (formal) U You (formal)
Hij/-ie He Hem Him
Zij/ze She Haar Her
Het It Het It
Wij/We We Ons Us
Jullie You (plural) Jullie You (plural)
Ze They Hen/Ze Them
For the most part, Dutch personal pronouns follow a similar pattern to English. They have the same distinctions for masculine, feminine and neuter and for first, second and third person. They also have the same distinctions for nominative and accusative, depending on whether the pronoun is used as subject or object of the clause.

Some Dutch pronouns have two versions as outlined in the table below:

Jij/je You
Hij/-ie He
Zij/ze She/they
Wij/we We
These are generally interchangeable, but the first variant can be used for emphasis or when introducing the person for the first time. The exception is the ie variant of ‘he’, which can only be used in subordinate constructions, such as in subordinate clauses or in questions. It is usually marked with a dash in order to show that it is not a typical pronoun.  This construction is very informal. Komt-ie? ‘Is he coming?’ Ik ben bang dat-ie weg is. ‘I’m afraid he has gone’

The distinction between u en jij.

Both u and jij mean ‘you’ (singular), but u is the more formal variant. Theoretically, u is used when addressing people you do not know, or with clients or people in authority. However, Dutch culture is generally quite egalitarian and it rare to hear u in everyday speech. You might use it when interacting with a client, for example, but even then, this might only be restricted to the first interaction. By the end of the conversation, it is common to have switched to jij entirely. Young people tend always to use jij with each other.

Possessive pronouns

The table below shows the possessive pronoun system of Dutch:
Mijn/mijne My
Jouw/jouwe Your
Uw/uwe Your (formal)
Zijn His
Haar Her
Ons/onze Our
Jullie Your (plural)
Hun Their
There are different forms of the first person possessive pronouns depending on whether it is singular or plural.
Singular Plural
Mijn huis My house Mijne huizen My houses
Ons auto Our car Onze autos Our cars
Ons paard Our horse Onze paarden Our horses
Mijn potlood My pencil Mijne potloden My pencils
 Where the noun is singular, the bare possessive pronoun is used, without any ending. Where the noun is plural, an –e ending is added to the pronoun. Often, when you hear Dutch people speak English, you will notice that they will sometimes produce utterances such as ‘John his car’ or ‘Maria her hat’. This is a direct transfer of a possessive construction that is commonly used in spoken Dutch. Jan z’n fiets. Jan’s bicycle Tinneke d’r tuin. Tinneke’s garden. In these examples, z’n is a contractions of zijn and d’r is a contraction of haar. Some Dutch learners of English understand the ‘s which marks possession is an abbreviation of his, as it is in the Dutch construction. So when they use the construction for feminine possessors, they use her, in Dutch haar.

The third person singular

The third person pronoun het is most commonly used for inanimate nouns, both in the nominative and accusative. It corresponds to English it. Het is drie uur. It is three o’ clock. Ik heb het al gedaan. I have already done it. Het was echt leuk. It was really good fun. Hij (nominative) and hem (accusative) are most commonly used when the noun is masculine and animate. They correspond to English ‘he’ and ‘him’. Hij is mijn stiefvader. He is my stepfather. Hij and hem can also be used when the noun is a common gender noun. In the accusative, it often takes the contracted form ‘m. Ik kan mijn lamp niet vinden. Heb je‘m gezien? ‘I can’t find my lamp. Have you seen it?’ Ik vind je tafel echt leuk. Waar heb je hem gekocht? ‘I really like your table. Where did you buy it?’ Ik vond de oogschaduw mooi, maar hij was echt duur. ‘I really liked the eyeshadow, but it was very expensive.’

Feminine pronouns

We generally can only use the feminine pronouns when referring to feminine animate nouns. Zij is de nieuwe manager van de bedrijf. ‘She is the new manager of the company’. However, there is a growing tendency to use feminine pronouns with certain collective nouns, which denote larger organisations. This is particularly the case for haar, meaning ‘her’. De Commissie en haar personeel hebben een groot rol gespeeld. ‘The Commission and its (her) staff have played a big role’. De vereniging heeft laten weten dat zijzich gesteund voelt door haarvrijwillgers. ‘The organisation has let it be known that it (she) feels supported by its (her) volunteers‘. The distinction in grammatical gender between masculine and feminine has all but disappeared in the Dutch language. Both masculine and feminine nouns are denoted by the article de. Possessive pronouns zijn and haar should technically only be used with de words that were originally masculine and feminine, respectively, but this is no longer a meaningful distinction for most Dutch speakers. It is increasingly common to find haar used with neuter het nouns, but grammar purists would consider this incorrect. Het kabinet heeft haar plannen over studiefinanciering bekend gemaakt. ‘The cabinet has made its (her) plans for student financing known’. The use of haar in this way has become so pervasive that it is sometimes known as the haar-ziekte, or the ‘her disease’.

Dutch Pronouns Grammar Challenge

This article has outlined the basic pronominal distinctions in Dutch. Now that you know the basics, why not give the Dutch pronoun grammar challenges a try? Practice using Dutch pronouns in actual sentences with Clozemaster!

How to form plural nouns in Dutch

Most plural nouns are formed by adding either -en or -s. Remember that the definite article is always de before plural nouns.

1. -en (the n is pronounced softly) is added to most nouns, with a few spelling changes

boek – boeken book(s) jas – jassen coat(s) haar – haren hair(s) huis – huizen house(s)

Spelling changes: Words with long vowels (aa, ee, oo, and uu) drop the one vowel when another syllable is added. Words with the short vowels (a, e, i, o and u) double the following consonant to keep the vowels short. The letters f and s occur at the end of words or before consonants, while the letters v and z occur in the middle of words before vowels. (These spelling rules are also used for conjugating verbs, so it’s best to memorize them as soon as possible.)

2. -s is added to nouns ending in the unstressed syllables -el, -em, -en, and -er (and -aar(d), -erd, -ier when referring to people), foreign words and to most nouns ending in an unstressed vowel

tafel – tafels table(s) jongen – jongens boy(s) tante – tantes aunt(s) bakker – bakkers baker(s)

Nouns ending in the vowels -a, -o, and -u add an apostrophe before the s: foto’s, paraplu’s

Irregular forms

3. Some nouns containing a short vowel do not double the following consonant in the plural before -en. The plural vowel is then pronounced as long.

bad – baden bath(s) dag – dagen day(s) spel – spelen game(s) (like the Olympics, smaller games are spellen) glas – glazen glass(es) weg – wegen road(s)

4. A few neuter nouns take the ending -eren (or -deren if the noun ends in -n)

blad – bladeren leaf (leaves) kind – kinderen child(ren) ei – eieren egg(s) been – beenderen bone(s) [Note: been – benen leg(s)] lied – liederen song(s) volk – volkeren nation(s), people

5. Nouns ending in -heid have a plural in -heden.

mogelijkheid – mogelijkheden possibility (possibilities)

6. Some other common irregular plurals are:

stad – steden town(s) schip – schepen ship(s) lid – leden member(s) koe – koeien cow(s)

Dutch Possessives: Adjectives and Pronouns

Singular Plural
mijn (m’n) my ons / onze our
jouw (je) your (informal) jullie (je) your (informal)
uw your (formal) uw your (formal)
zijn (z’n) his hun their
haar her
zijn (z’n) its

Ons is used before singular neuter/het nouns, and onze is used elsewhere (before singular common/de nouns, and all plural nouns.) Je, the unstressed form of jouw, is commonly used in spoken and written Dutch, unless the speaker/writer wants to stress the pronoun. In the plural,jullie is the norm, unless jullie has already been used in the sentence, then je is used to avoid the redundancy. The other unstressed forms are not commonly written in the standard language, but are commonly spoken and written in informal communication.

Like in English, Dutch possessive adjectives are used in front of a noun to show possession: mijn boek (my book). There are a few ways to express the -‘s used in English too. -s can be added to proper names and members of the family: Jans boek (John’s book) The preposition vancan be used to mean of: het boek van Jan (the book of John = John’s book) And in more colloquial speech, the unstressed forms in parentheses above (agreeing in gender and number) can be used in place of the -s: Jan z’n boek (John’s book)

To form the possessive pronouns, add -e to the stressed forms (except for jullie) and use the correct article. The only way to show possession with jullie is to use van jou (literally meaning “of you”), although all the others can be used with van too.

de/het mijne, jouwe, uwe, zijne, hare, onze, hunne (mine, yours, yours, his/its, hers, ours, theirs)

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Dutch an Introduction

Classroom - Dutch, Learn Dutch / By

Dutch language, also called Netherlandic or Dutch Nederlands, in Belgium called Flemish or Flemish Vlaams, a West Germanic language that is the national language of the Netherlands and, with French and German, one of the three official languages of Belgium. Although speakers of English usually call the language of the Netherlands “Dutch” and the language of Belgium “Flemish,” they are actually the same language. About 23 million people in Holland and Belgium have Dutch as their mother tongue, which makes Dutch the seventh language in the European Union . Dutch is also the official language of Surinam.

Dutch is a Germanic language, which means it has a lot in common with languages like German, English, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.Dutch is the third Germanic language. It comes after English and German, but is spoken by far more people than Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or Frisian.

The standard language in the Netherlands is based primarily on the dialect of the province of Holland. It should be noted that ‘Nederlands’, ‘Hollands’ and ‘Vlaams’ are three separate names for the same language whereas in Belgium‘Vlaams’ was used to indicate what was not French. However, today‘Nederlands’ is the official and most usual designation in both countries.

Dutch is also spoken on the Netherlands Antilles, Suriname and many people in Indonesia also speak it (all former colonies of The Netherlands). And in South-Africa, they speak a language derived from Dutch: Afrikaans. We’ll start by teaching you how to introduce yourself in Dutch. Take a look at the following Dutch sentence and it’s English translation. “Ik ben Robert” “I am Robert” Here we see your very first Dutch sentence where you introduce yourself as Robert, a fictional person. You should of course replace the name with your own name. Although the sentence consists of only three words we are going to carefully examine each word. The first word “Ik” is the Dutch equivalent of the English word “I”, also referred to as 1st person singular. It’s a subject pronoun. The second word “ben” is a verb. It’s a conjugation of the irregular Dutch verb “zijn”, which is the Dutch equivalent of “to be”. Now we’ve seen how to introduce yourself using “ik ben” but we can also introduce other people, take a look at the following examples:
 Ik ben Robert  I am Robert
 Jij bent Robert  You are Robert
 Hij is Robert  He is Robert
 Zij is Roberta  She is Roberta
 Het is Robert  It is Robert
 Wij zijn Robert en Paul  We are Robert and Paul
 Jullie zijn Robert en Paul  You are Robert and Paul
 Zij zijn Robert en Paul  They are Robert and Paul

Articles and Gender

Articles Take a look at these Dutch sentences:
 Hij is een vader  He is a father
 Zij is de moeder  She is the mother
 Het is de stoel  It is the chair
 Het is een stoel  It is a chair
 Het is een huis  It is a house
 Het is het huis  It is the house
It looks pretty logical at the beginning. You’ll quickly notice that “een” is the correct Dutch translation of “a” and “an”. But what’s the correct translation of “the”? You see two different Dutch word for “the”, you see “de” and “het”, but which one is the right one? Gender Grammar Rules In general, gender is used to distinguish between male and female, sometimes referred to as masculine and feminine. The following examples use gender in different ways and places to demonstrate their behavior.
Grammar + Rules Dutch
my son is a student [masculine + noun] mijn zoon is een student .
her daughter is a student [feminine + noun] haar dochter is een student .
he has a tall brother [adjective + masculine] hij heeft een grote broer .
she has a tall sister [adjective + feminine] ze heeft een grote zus .
his brothers are young [plural masculine + adjective] zijn broers zijn jong .
his sisters are young [plural feminine + adjective] zijn zussen zijn jong .

Hebben – to have

In this lesson we’ll also introduce another irregular Dutch verb, the verb “hebben”, which means “to have”. Take a look at the full conjugation and translation of this verb:
 Ik heb  I have
 Jij hebt  You have
 Hij/Zij/Het heeft  He/she/it has
 Wij hebben  We have
 Jullie hebben  You have
 Zij hebben  They have
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Dutch Grammar

Classroom - Dutch, Learn Dutch / By

 

Introduction

Dutch is a language of Germanic origin and besides The Netherlands and Belgium, it’s also spoken on the Netherlands Antilles, Suriname and many people in Indonesia also speak it (all former colonies of The Netherlands). And in South-Africa, they speak a language derived from Dutch: Afrikaans.

We’ll start by teaching you how to introduce yourself in Dutch. Take a look at the following Dutch sentence and it’s English translation. “Ik ben Robert” “I am Robert” Here we see your very first Dutch sentence where you introduce yourself as Robert, a fictional person. You should of course replace the name with your own name. Although the sentence consists of only three words we are going to carefully examine each word. The first word “Ik” is the Dutch equivalent of the English word “I”, also referred to as 1st person singular. It’s a subject pronoun. The second word “ben” is a verb. It’s a conjugation of the irregular Dutch verb “zijn”, which is the Dutch equivalent of “to be”. Now we’ve seen how to introduce yourself using “ik ben” but we can also introduce other people, take a look at the following examples:
 Ik ben Robert  I am Robert
 Jij bent Robert  You are Robert
 Hij is Robert  He is Robert
 Zij is Roberta  She is Roberta
 Het is Robert  It is Robert
 Wij zijn Robert en Paul  We are Robert and Paul
 Jullie zijn Robert en Paul  You are Robert and Paul
 Zij zijn Robert en Paul  They are Robert and Paul

Articles and Gender

Articles Take a look at these Dutch sentences:
 Hij is een vader  He is a father
 Zij is de moeder  She is the mother
 Het is de stoel  It is the chair
 Het is een stoel  It is a chair
 Het is een huis  It is a house
 Het is het huis  It is the house
It looks pretty logical at the beginning. You’ll quickly notice that “een” is the correct Dutch translation of “a” and “an”. But what’s the correct translation of “the”? You see two different Dutch word for “the”, you see “de” and “het”, but which one is the right one?   Gender Grammar Rules In general, gender is used to distinguish between male and female, sometimes referred to as masculine and feminine. The following examples use gender in different ways and places to demonstrate their behavior.
Grammar + Rules Dutch
my son is a student [masculine + noun] mijn zoon is een student .
her daughter is a student [feminine + noun] haar dochter is een student .
he has a tall brother [adjective + masculine] hij heeft een grote broer .
she has a tall sister [adjective + feminine] ze heeft een grote zus .
his brothers are young [plural masculine + adjective] zijn broers zijn jong .
his sisters are young [plural feminine + adjective] zijn zussen zijn jong .

Hebben – to have

In this lesson we’ll also introduce another irregular Dutch verb, the verb “hebben”, which means “to have”. Take a look at the full conjugation and translation of this verb:
 Ik heb  I have
 Jij hebt  You have
 Hij/Zij/Het heeft  He/she/it has
 Wij hebben  We have
 Jullie hebben  You have
 Zij hebben  They have
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