Dutch declension system

Dutch declension is the declensional system of the Dutch language. Dutch marks nouns, pronouns, articles, and adjectives to distinguish case, number, and gender.

Dutch can distinguish between four cases—nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative (sometimes also the locative exists); and three grammatical genders—feminine, masculine, and neuter. Nouns may also be either singular or plural.

Articles

Definite Articles

If the indefinite article is used as a noun, it is inflected as a noun. It always needs to be put in a contrast: "de ene(n) versus de andere(n)" (the one(s) versus the other(s)).

Nouns

In Dutch nouns are inflected in some cases. Most Dutch nouns have four forms, e.g. het huis, de huizen, des huizes and ten huize. These nouns are called strong nouns ("sterke zelfstandige naamwoorden"). Some nouns only have three forms, e.g. de vrouw, de vrouwen, der vrouw, der vrouwe. These are feminine nouns ("vrouwelijke zelfstandige naamwoorden") (with the exception of female names, these are strong). Some nouns only have two forms, e.g. de mens, de mensen, des mensen, den mensen. These nouns are called weak nouns ("zwakke substantieven").

Strong nouns

het huis (the house)

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

Formation of the Two Standard Forms

*nom.sing.: root, if the root ends on -z or -v, then it changes into -s or -f:
mens --> mens- --> de mens (the man)
graaf --> graav- --> de graaf (the count)

*all other forms: root + en
mens --> mens- --> des mensen (the man's)
graaf --> graav- --> des graven (the count's)

Irregular nouns

Some nouns do not use one conjugation type, but multiple. The most frequent of these are het hart ("the heart"), het oor ("the ear"), het uur ("the hour"),de gunst ("the favour"), de tijd ("the time") en de wereld ("the world")
*mamaatje (ma-ma-tje) (mom)
*hondje (hond-je) (dog)
*koetje (koe-tje) (cow)
*slofje (slof-je) (shoe)
*stokje (stok-je) (stick)
*schooltje (school-tje) (school)
*boompje (boom-pje) (tree)
*kommetje (kom-me-tje) (plate)
*boontje (boon-tje) (bean)
*bonnetje (bon-ne-tje) (ticket)
*mapje (map-je) (book)
*muurtje (muur-tje) (wall)
*voetje (voet-je) (foot)
*koninkje (koning-kje) (king)

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

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

Adjectives

In Dutch, adjectives are sometimes inflected. There are five different possibilities:
* The adjective is attribute
* The adjective precedes a noun and is itself preceded by a definite article
* The adjective precedes a noun and is itself preceded by an indefinite article
* The adjective precedes a noun, but is not preceded by any article
* The adjective is used as a noun

The adjective is attributive

In this case the adjective is not inflected:

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

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

*The adjective is now (with a few exceptions) inflected as a definite article

*Only the nominative, the genitive and the dative after the preposition "te" are still used, although the genitive is some what archaic. Thee dative and accusative are also used in fixed expressions and after prepositions with a figurative meaning.

*Adjectives with a root on -en (e.g. houten, koperen) always end on -en: e.g. houten pop (wooden doll), koperen klink (copper doorknob).

*This is true for all fabric names: they never have an ending: e.g. platina plaat (platina plate), linoleum vloerbedekking (linoleum floor).

The adjective is used as a noun

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

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

Degrees of Comparison

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

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

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

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

However there are some exceptions to this rule:
* "goed - beter - best" (good/well - better - best, adjective and adverb)
* "veel - meer - meest" (much/many - more - most, adjective and adverb)
* "weining - minder - minst" (few - less -least, adjective and adverb)
* "graag - liever - liefst" (liked - preferred - most desirable, adverb)

If an adjective's or adverb's root ends on an "s", "z", "x", "sh" or "sch", no s is added for the superlative:
* "precies - preciezer - preciest" (precize - more precize - most precize)
* "archaïsch - archaïscher - archaïscht" (arhaic - more archaic - most archaic)

Sometimes words are split into two parts:
* "dichtbevolkt - dichter bevolkt - dichtstbevolkt" (populated - more populated - most populated)

Normally the conjunction "dan" is used after the comparative; some people use "als" (however there are people who consider "als" to be incorrect.

*Ik ben rijker "dan" hij. (I am richer than he)
*Ik ben rijker "als" hij. (I am richer than he)

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

*Hij sloeg mij harder als jou. (He beat me harder than (he beat) you)
*Hij sloeg mij harder als jij. (He beat me harder than you (beat me))

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

*bereid - meer bereid - meest bereid (prepared - more prepared - most prepared)

It is considered incorrect to use "meer" en "meest" if the degrees of comparison exist:
*"meer mooi" (incorrect) (correction: "mooier" = more beautiful)

Pronouns

Dutch has 9 different pronouns:

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

Demonstrative pronoun

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

If something is close: deze

The declension of wie:

Indefinite pronoun

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

Reciprocal pronoun

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