Basic Pronouns

Subject pronouns (persoonlijke voornaamwoorden als onderwerp) are the foundation of Dutch sentences. They tell us who is doing the verb.

1. The Pronoun List

• ik (I)
• jij / je (you, singular informal)
• u (you, formal)
• hij (he), zij / ze (she), het (it)
• wij / we (we)
• jullie (you, plural informal)
• zij / ze (they)

Note: Because zij/ze can mean both "she" and "they," you must look at the verb to know the difference. For example, "ze werkt" (she works) vs. "ze werken" (they work). Additionally, het is used to refer to neuter nouns, including people like het kind (the child) or het meisje (the girl). However, in natural discourse, speakers often switch to biological gender in subsequent sentences (e.g., "Het meisje huilt. Ze is verdrietig"). In Belgium and the southern Netherlands, you will also encounter gij or ge as a common second-person pronoun; see Belgisch Nederlands for more.

2. Stressed vs. Unstressed Forms
Dutch distinguishes between full forms (jij, zij, wij) and reduced forms (je, ze, we). In both speech and neutral writing, these reduced forms are very common. While full forms are often used to provide specific emphasis or contrast (e.g., "Wij gaan naar huis, en zij niet"), they are also used naturally in many other contexts where the pronoun is the focus of the sentence. The reduced form 'k (for ik) and the enclitic -ie (for hij, e.g., "Wat doet-ie?") are extremely frequent in spoken Dutch, though they are usually avoided in formal writing. While the clitic 't (for het) is standard in speech, you should use the full form het in neutral or formal writing. You can become confident with these in short pronoun forms.

3. Formal vs. Informal
Dutch makes a distinction between talking to friends (jij/je) and talking to strangers or superiors (u). The pronoun u is used for both one person and a group in formal settings. For the verb "to be," u bent is the universal modern standard; the form u is is archaic and old-fashioned. For "to have," both u heeft and u hebt are correct. See to have (hebben) for more details.

4. Verb Agreement
The pronoun you choose changes the ending of the verb. For example, 'ik' usually has no ending, while 'hij' adds a -t. See basic verb conjugation for the specific rules.

5. The Inversion Rule
A special rule exists for jij/je: when the verb comes before the pronoun (like in a question), the verb loses its -t ending. For example, while you say "Je werkt" (You work), you must say "Werk je?" (Do you work?). This is explained in dropping -t before jij. Note that this rule only applies to jij/je; it does not apply to u, hij, zij, or het.