Introduction

Use

Exception: adjective ending in -en

Adjective + -s

Adjectives are words that qualify nouns. They express a particular quality of the noun, such as colour (geel, rood, zwart) or dimensions (groot, lang, klein). Adjectives can also express more abstract qualities. For example: gezellig , interessant or aardig.

predicative adjectives

Predicative adjectives are adjectives used separately from the noun they qualify, as in the sentences below:

Note that predicative adjectives never change form.

attributive adjectives

When adjectives immediately precede the noun they qualify, we talk of attributive adjectives. Examples of attributive adjectives are:

The rest of this section will deal with attributive adjectives, because they are the type of adjective that can decline (change form).

Attributive adjectives (adjectives that precede the noun they qualify) decline in most cases: i.e. they have the ending -e . Whether or not an attributive adjective declines, depends on:

A definite noun is preceded by a definite article (de or het) or a demonstrative pronoun deze, dit, die or dat), possessive pronoun (mijn, jouw etc.), or the question word welk(e). (

Indefinite nouns are preceded by the indefinite article (een) or by no article at all (for example in the plural). Geen (as in Ik heb geen auto = ‘I have no car') also acts as an indefinite article.

An attributive adjective has the ending – e unless

*Note that as all plurals are de -words, adjectives preceding them always have the ending –e.

This is a schematic representation of the rule for adjectival endings:

Adjectives that end in – en do not decline at all and are therefore an exception to the general rule.

Most of these are adjectives describing materials. For example:

de tafel is van hout ® een houten tafel
the table is (made) of wood ® a wooden table

mijn ring is van goud ® een gouden ring
my ring is (made) of gold ® a golden ring

There are some other adjectives naturally ending in – en that behave in the same way:

de open deur
the open door

When the word iets precedes an adjective used on its own, the adjective always has the ending -s:

iets lekkers
something tasty

iets makkelijks
something easy

iets leuks
something nice

Note that if an adjective already ends with an -s , only one /s/-sound is heard and only one letter is written (see spelling).

iets fris
"something fresh" = a soft drink

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Click here to read more about adjectives in the Advanced Dutch Grammar.