Dutch/Appendix 3

^ Les 1 ^ Appendix 3 - Voornaamwoorden ~ pronouns Like English, Dutch has pronouns. These can mark number, case, gender,politeness and emphasis. Pronouns can function either as substantives (nouns) or as adjectives. There is also a number of related adverbs that will be treated here. Adverbs are typically not considered pronouns in grammatical analysis, but they deserve mention when discussing the Dutch language because pronouns are often replaced by pronominal adverbs. Persoonlijke voornaamwoorden ~ Personal pronouns In this table personal pronouns are given in nominative, accusative and dative case. These cases signify the role the pronouns have in the sentence. For example: In "I am hitting you", "I" is nominative (subject) and "you" is accusative (object). Also words with a preposition are in accusative case ("you" in "I am looking at you"). Dative case is special and tells us something is indirect object, as "me" in "He gave me that" or "He built me a snowman" or, with a preposition, "He gave it to me". number person nom. acc./dat. Dutch English Dutch English singular 1st ik I mij/me me 2nd fam. jij/je you jou/je you polite u you u you South gij you u you 3rd m hij he hem him f zij/ze she haar her n het it het it plural 1st wij/we we ons us 2nd fam. jullie you jullie you polite u you u you South gij you u you 3rd zij/ze they hen/hun*ze them Remarks: Sometimes there are two forms (jij/je etc.), which can be interchanged most of the time. (See 5) Officially the plural 3rd person accusative form is hen. Hun is (officially) only used as a dative without preposition: "We hebben het hun verteld" ("We told them about it"). After a preposition hen should be used. This refers almost entirely to the written standard language and was artificially constructed by the grammarians of the past. In the spoken language hen is seldom heard. Even hun is increasingly replaced by ze as people tire of being told their use of hun is wrong by the schoolmasters. In the inanimate case the use of preposition+pronoun is rare, replacement by a pronominal adverb being preferred (See 8). For inanimate objects personal and possessive pronouns are often replaced by demonstrative pronouns. In the South -mostly Flanders- the gij-form is in regular use for the second person. It has its own verb endings. It adds a -t both in the present and the past: komen - gij komt - gij kwaamt. In the North its use is limited to Biblical quotes like: gij zult niet stelen - thou shalt not steal. Notice that u is used as object, without implying politeness. Bezittelijke voornaamwoorden ~ Possessive pronouns Pssessive pronouns are essentially the adjectival forms of the personal pronouns. number person Dutch English singular 1st mijn my 2nd fam. jouw/je your polite uw your 3rd m zijn*3 his f haar*3 her n (zijn)*3 its plural 1st onze/ons our 2nd fam. jullie your polite uw your 3rd hun their Remarks: The difference between jouw and je is matter of emphasis or the lack thereof: "Dat is jouw huis." vs. "Dat is je huis." Ons has an inflected form onze as most adjectives do (See ../Lesson 2). Other possessives are seldom inflected in the modern language: Mijne Heren!: Gentlemen!, Hare Hoogheid: Her Highness. More regularly inflected forms are used when the pronoun is used as an independent noun: Met welke auto gaan we? De mijne of de jouwe?. Jullie is never inflected, instead die van jullie is used. The neuter possessive pronoun zijn is very rare as Dutch usually opts for a construction involving a pronominal adverb like ervan. (see 8). The masculine and feminine forms are increasingly reserved for natural gender (persons, as in English) in other cases pronominal replacement is more and more the norm. Personal Adverb - er Dutch has a somewhat curious personal locative adverb er that replaces het and ze particularly in inanimate cases (i.e. for things more so than for persons). It occurs as the locative part of many pronominal adverbs, such as :erin, erdoor, ervan etc. but it can also be used independently: er is koffie - there is coffee. er zijn mensen die dat lusten - there are people that like that Notice that er is not considered the subject of these sentences (koffie and mensen are the subject resp.) Aanwijzende voornaamwoorden -- Demonstrative pronouns locationneuter sg. all other Englishcloseditdeze this, thesefardat die that,those Notice that the distinction dit-deze does not correspond to the distinction this-these. Deze is used in the plural but it also used in the singular for m/f words. (It replaces de.) Demonstrative pronouns are typically used as adjectives: Dit huis Deze auto they can also be used independently: dit is een huis Zijn auto? Die heb ik gezien They are more and more used to replace inanimate personal pronouns. Aanwijzende bijwoorden - demonstrative adverbs temporal Dutch has three demonstrative adverbs of time: past: toen -then hij heeft toen een huis gekocht - he bought a house then present: nu - now nu woont hij er - now he lives there future/conditional: dan - then hij het dan verkopen - then he'll sell it modal One modal demonstrative adverb is common: zo - so Occasionally a more proximate one zus is used for contrast Dat doe je zus en zo - You do that this way and that. locative Two locative adverbs are in common use: close by: hier - here far off: daar - there Both of them are used as the locative part of demonstrative pronominal adverbs like: hierdoor, daarvan etc. A third adverb is less common: remote: ginds, ginder, daarginds -yonder Betrekkelijke voornaamwoorden -- Relative pronouns Zelfstandig- substantive antecedentneuter sg. all other Englishafterdatdie that/whoincludedwatwie the one that/whowhoever/that which Without antecedent: Dit is het huis dat ik koop -this is the house that I buy Dit is de auto die ik koop - this is the car that I buy Dit is de vrouw die ik lief heb - the is the woman whom I love With inclusion of antecedent. Wie mij steunt zal ik belonen - whoever supports me I shall reward Ik verkocht wat ik eerder gekocht had - I sold that which I had bought earlier. There are a number of archaic forms that can be used with prepositions: neuter:hetwelk, hetgeen, hetgene, datgene : that which other: dewelke persons degene die: he who, diegenen die: those who As in English the genitives wiens and wier (whose) can be used in relative clauses referring to persons: ik ontmoette de man wiens vrouw voor ons werkt - I met the man whose wife works for us. case masc sg.fem sg./plur Englishgenitivewienswier whose In inanimate cases the relative pronominal adverb waarvan is virtually mandatory. Bijvoeglijk - adjective neuter sg. all other Englishwelkwelke which ik weet welk boek hij gebruikt - I know which book he uses ik weet niet in welke steden trams rijden - I do not know in which cities streetcars are operated Bijwoordelijk - adverbial locative waar - where Waar can be used to initiate a dependent clause: dit is de stad waar ik geboren ben - this is the town where I was born Waar is also used to form the relative pronominal adverbs like waarvan, waarvoor etc. that frequently replace relative pronouns. Vragende voornaamwoorden - Interrogative pronouns