Person and Number
In Dutch there are two grammatical numbers (getallen) (as in English): singular (enkelvoud) and plural (meervoud) and three grammatical persons (personen) (as in English). They are determined as followed:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | ik ('k) | wij (we) |
| Second Person | jij (je); gij (ge); u (U) | jullie; gij (ge); u (U) |
| Third Person | hij (ie); zij (ze); het ('t) | zij (ze) |
Ik, wij, jij, gij, u, U, jullie, hij, zij, and het are the stressed forms, 'k, we, je, ge, ie, ze and 't are the non-stressed forms, U is the polite form (see Dutch declension). Because the conjugation pattern is different or equal for some persons, the conjugation is given by pronoun and not by grammatical person.
There are five forms of each verb in each tense:
- a form for ik ('k) (the pronoun jij (je) follows the same pattern as ik in the present simple if it follows the verb, see t-rules).
- a form for jij (je) (the pronouns u and U can also follow this form)
- a form for gij (ge) (the pronouns u, U and jullie can also follow this form)
- a form for hij (ie), zij (ze), het ('t) and u (U) (= a form for the third person)
- a plural form
Read more about this topic: Dutch Conjugation
Famous quotes containing the words person and/or number:
“For a person who is dying only eternity counts.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“My idea is that the world outside—the so-called modern world—can only pervert and degrade the conceptions of the primitive instinct of art and feeling, and that our only chance is to accept the limited number of survivors—the one- in-a-thousand of born artists and poets—and to intensify the energy of feeling within that radiant centre.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)