Pronouns and possession · Dutch grammar A1

Contents · A1

The personal pronouns have a subject form and an object form, and several of them a full form and a reduced form. A possessive is placed before the noun in the place of the article, and possession is also expressed with van or with a name followed by -s.

Personal pronouns and possessives: ik, mij, mijn#

Formation

The subject form is used as the subject of the verb, the object form after the verb and after a preposition, and the possessive before a noun, in the place of the article. Several pronouns have a full form, which can be stressed, and a reduced form, which cannot.

Person	Subject	Object	Possessive
I	ik	mij, me	mijn
you (familiar)	jij, je	jou, je	jouw, je
you (polite)	u	u	uw
he	hij	hem	zijn
she	zij, ze	haar	haar
it	het	het	zijn
we	wij, we	ons	ons, onze
you (plural)	jullie	jullie	jullie
they	zij, ze	hen, ze	hun

Full and reduced forms. The reduced forms je, ze, we and me are the usual ones in speech and in writing when the pronoun is not stressed: Waar woon je?, Ze komt morgen, Hij ziet me niet. The full form is used for a contrast and for a pronoun on its own: Ik woon in Delft, jij woont in Utrecht; Wie wil koffie? — Wij!.

After a preposition. The object forms are used: met mij, voor jou, bij ons, met hen. Hen refers only to people; ze refers to people and things, and is the more informal form for people.

The possessives. A possessive has one form before a de-word, a het-word and a plural, except ons: ons is used before a singular het-word, onze before a de-word and before every plural: ons huis, onze straat, onze kinderen. Zijn is used when the owner is a man or a thing, haar when the owner is a woman. Jouw and uw follow the choice between jij and u; without stress, jouw is reduced to je: Waar woont je broer?.

Use

Jij is used with a friend, a child or a relative, u with a stranger, an older person or someone addressed as meneer or mevrouw; the possessive follows the same choice: jouw or uw. Hun is the possessive “their”, hen the object “them”: met hun kinderen, but met hen.

Ik zie hem morgen.I'm seeing him tomorrow.
Kom je met ons naar het strand?Are you coming to the beach with us?
Mijn zus en haar man wonen in Utrecht.My sister and her husband live in Utrecht.
Mevrouw, waar is uw auto?Madam, where is your car?
Wij wonen met onze kinderen in een klein dorp.We live with our children in a small village.
Ik help jullie morgen in de tuin.I'll help you in the garden tomorrow.

Difference from English

English you has one form for subject and object, and your one form; Dutch has jij as the subject, jou as the object, jouw as the possessive, and u, uw for polite address. English its is zijn, and English our has two Dutch forms, ons and onze.

Common mistakes

~~Ik help jij.~~ → Ik help jou.After the verb, the object form is used.
~~ons kamer~~ → onze kamerKamer is a de-word: onze.
~~Hun wonen in Delft.~~ → Zij wonen in Delft.Hun is not a subject pronoun.
~~met hun~~ → met henAfter a preposition, “them” is hen.
~~Meneer, waar is jouw auto?~~ → Meneer, waar is uw auto?A man addressed as meneer is addressed with u, and the possessive is uw.

Practise

“The verb zijn: ik ben, introducing yourself”, To be: ik ben, jij bent, u bent “The verb zijn: ik ben, introducing yourself”, To be with he, she and it: hij is, zij is, het is “The verb zijn: ik ben, introducing yourself”, To be in the plural: wij zijn, jullie zijn, zij zijn

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Possession with van and -s: de tas van Anna, Anna's tas#

Formation

Possession is expressed with van, placed after the thing owned and before the owner: de tas van Anna, het huis van mijn ouders. After zijn, van is followed by the owner or an object pronoun: Het boek is van mij. With a name, possession is also expressed with -s before the noun, written without an apostrophe after most names: Daans kamer, Brams auto. An apostrophe is written after a name in a single long vowel (Anna's, Mila's, Otto's), and the apostrophe alone after a name ending in an s sound: Thomas' tas.

Use

Van is used with every owner, a name, a noun or a pronoun; the -s is used mainly with names. A question about the owner is asked with Van wie …? (“whose …?”): Van wie is de pen?.

Het huis van mijn ouders is groot.My parents' house is big.
Van wie is de sleutel? — Van Daan.Whose is the key? — Daan's.
Emma's broer woont in Londen.Emma's brother lives in London.
Ruuds kamer is erg schoon.Ruud's room is very clean.
Is de pen van jou? — Nee, van Mila.Is the pen yours? — No, it's Mila's.

Difference from English

In English 's is written after every name; in Dutch the apostrophe is written only after a long vowel or an s sound: Brams jas, but Mila's jas. English of and 's both correspond to van.

Common mistakes

~~Daan's jas~~ → Daans jasAfter a name ending in a consonant, the -s is written without an apostrophe.
~~Annas boek~~ → Anna's boekAfter a long a, the apostrophe is written.
~~Wie is de tas?~~ → Van wie is de tas?The owner is asked with van wie.

In short

Point	Form	Example
subject	ik, jij / je, u, hij, zij / ze, het, wij / we, jullie, zij / ze	We wonen hier.
object, after a preposition	mij / me, jou / je, u, hem, haar, het, ons, jullie, hen / ze	met hem, voor jou
possessive	mijn, jouw / je, uw, zijn, haar, ons / onze, jullie, hun	onze kat, ons huis
possession with van	thing + van + owner	de tas van Anna
possession with -s	name + -s ('s after a long vowel)	Brams tas, Anna's tas
whose	Van wie …?	Van wie is de pen?

Practise

“Pronouns and possession: mijn, hem, van Anna”, Whose it is: van Anna, Anna's boek, van wie?

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