Category Archives: Grammar

Possessive adjectives

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SINGULAR (stressed, unstressed):
1st person: mijn, (m’n) – my
2nd person: jouw, je – your
2nd p. formal: uw – your
3rd person:  zijn, (z’n) – his/its
3rd person:  haar, (d’r) – her

PLURAL (stressed, unstressed):
1st person: ons/onze – our
2nd person: jullie, je – your
2nd p. formal: uw – your
3rd person:  hun, (d’r) – their

Ons is used before  neuter singular nouns:
Dat is ons huis.

Onze is used before plural neuter nouns and common nouns:
Dit zijn onze boeken.
Dit is onze poes.
Dit zijn onze poezen.

Object pronouns: me, you, him, etc.

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SINGULAR (stressed, unstressed)
1st person: mij, me – me
2nd person: jou, je – you
2nd p. (formal) u  – you
3rd person: hem, (‘m) – him
3rd person: haar, (d’r) – her
3rd person: het, (‘t) – it

PLURAL (stressed, unstressed)
1st person: ons – us
2nd person: jullie, (je) – you
2nd p. (formal) u  – you
3rd person (people): hen, hun, (ze) – them
3rd person (things): ze – them
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For details on 3rd person plural see Hen, hun en ze. The mind-blowing experience of.

Reflexive pronouns. E.g.: myself

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SINGULAR:
1st person: me – myself
2nd person: je – yourself
2nd p. (formal) zich/u – yourself
3rd person: zich – himself, herself, itself

PLURAL:
1st person: ons – ourselves
2nd person: je – yourselves
2nd p. (formal) zich/u – yourselves
3rd person: zich – themselves
—
Heeft hij geld bij zich? – Has he got any money on him?
Heb je een peen buj je? – Have you got a pen with you?

The preposition object

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Referring to people after a preposition (e.g. met, naar, voor, achter, in, etc):

Wij doen het voor haar – We do it for her.
Wij doen het voor hem – We do it for him.

Zij komt met hen – She’s coming with them
Geef het aan mij – Give it to me

TODO: Make an example for every pronoun!

When referring to things after a preposition, er  is attached to the front of the preposition:

Zij staan ervoor – She’s standing in front of it.
Hij speelt ermee – He’s playing with it. Note: Met becomes mee

Hen, hun en ze. The mind-blowing experience of.

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It turned out that there are two words for “them” in Dutch when it comes to people — hen and hun.  And there’s the third word for “them” to refer to things — ze.

Ze
De vrouw heeft de appelen. – The woman has the apples.
De vrouw heeft ze. – The woman has them.

Hen en hun

When referring to people, the difference appears between a direct object and an indirect object.

Het meisje ziet de vrienden. – The girl sees the friends
Zij ziet hen. – She sees them

Here het meisje is the subject and de vrienden are the direct object.

Het meisje geeft de vrienden een foto – The girl gives the friends a photo.
Zij geeft hun een foto – She gives them a photo.

In this case, what the girl gives is the direct object, it’s the photo. She gives it to friends, who are the indirect object. This is when hun kicks in.