These are my dutch grammar notes while I'm learning Dutch. I find it useful for others thus, I've created this repository. I hope that especially expats in Netherlands find this repository useful.
This repository consist of several parts regarding to different dutch grammar topics.
I'll update this repository as I progress so please check this repository periodically.
TIP: Please note that it would be better to study this repository in addition with my other dutch language related repositories;
- Dutch Vocabulary repository: dutch-vocabulary
- Technical Dutch For Software Developers repository: technical-dutch-for-software-developers
Before starting more complicated topics in Dutch grammar, you should be aware of the articles. In English, there is only one definitive article, which is: "the". However, unlike in English, there are two definitive articles in Dutch: "het" and "de".
It is very vital to learn the importance of the arctiles in Dutch. In this topic, I'll talk about the definitive articles, also known as "het bepaald lidwoord".
As I stated above, there are two definitive articles in Dutch language: "het" and "de". There is no certain rule about how to predict the articles, whether it is "het" or "de", so you have to learn every noun's article by heart.
In the following topics, I will explain how the articles of the nouns affect the adjectives, pronouns but for now, let's take a quick look to the examples;
| article | dutch noun | english meaning |
|---|---|---|
| de | moeder | mother |
| de | vader | father |
| het | kind | child |
| de | jongen | boy |
| het | meisje | girl |
| het | dier | animal |
| de | hond | dog |
| de | kat | cat |
| het | konijn | rabbit |
| het | paard | horse |
As you can see, there is no any relation with the article with the word, you have to know every article per noun by heart and you must memorize them.
TIP: If you are taking notes while you are studying dutch vocabulary, always write the new dutch noun you are learning with the article.
To make a sentences, we need personal pronouns, which is called in Dutch as "het persoonlijk voornaamwoord".
In the following table, you can see the personal pronouns mapping between Dutch and English;
| dutch | english |
|---|---|
| Ik | I |
| Jij | You |
| U | You (polite form) |
| Hij | He |
| Zij | She |
| Wij | We |
| Jullie | You (plural) |
| Zij | They |
It is quite straightforward and simple. However, this is not the full table. Because unlike in English, there are also some stressed/unstressed forms for some of the personal pronouns.
For "jij", "zij", "wij" only, there are also unstressed forms. You can see the stressed and unstressed version os these three personal pronouns. Also keep in mind that "zij" is both used for "she" and "they". It may sound a little strange however, in later topics, you will see that it is not that hard to understand for which personal pronoun is used for "zij" based on the conjugation of the verb. In this level, if you don't understand it totally, don't panick, you will learn it later.
| stressed | unstressed | english |
|---|---|---|
| Jij | Je | You |
| Zij | Ze | She |
| Wij | We | We |
| Zij | Ze | They |
So to gather up, the full list is as below. The unstressed forms are denoted inside the parenthesis;
| dutch | english |
|---|---|
| Ik | I |
| Jij (je) | You |
| U | You (polite form) |
| Hij | He |
| Zij (ze) | She |
| Wij (we) | We |
| Jullie | You (plural) |
| Zij (ze) | They |
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