If you're trying to learn Dutch Feminine which is also called Nederlands, check our courses about genders: Feminine and Masculine... to help you with your Dutch grammar. Try to concentrate on the lesson and notice the pattern that occurs each time the word changes its place. Also don't forget to check the rest of our other lessons listed on Learn Dutch. Enjoy the rest of the lesson!
Learning the Dutch Feminine is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you master it the more you get closer to mastering the Dutch language. But first we need to know what the role of Feminine is in the structure of the grammar in Dutch.
Dutch feminine refers to female qualities attributed specifically to women and girls or things considered feminine. The complement to feminine is masculine.
To form a feminine word from the masculine in Dutch, you simply add (-e, a –in or a -es) if the word ends in a consonant. Male nouns ending in –er get –ster. Here are some examples:
student (student) becomes : studente
agent (police officer) becomes : agente
piloot (pilote) becomes : pilote
neger (black) becomes : negerin
regent (regent) becomes : regentes
leraar (teacher) becomes : lerares
meester (master) becomes : meesteres
speler (player) becomes : speelster
voorzitter (president) becomes : voorzitster
Some nouns remain unchanged when put in feminine. These are mainly words borrowed from other languages :
minister, professor, …
Once again, if you wishes to learn Dutch, you have to memorize the gender of each word, and the easiest way to do so, is by memorizing the definite article with it as well as the plural.
de man (the man) – masculine – mannen (men)
het meisje (the girl) – neutral !!!! [although this sounds silly] – meisjes (girls)
het leven (life) – neutral – levens (lives)
de vrouw (the woman) – feminine – vrouwen (women)
het huis (the house) – neutral – huizen
de auto (the car) – masculine – auto’s
Here are some examples:
| English Feminine | Dutch Feminine |
|---|---|
| Feminine | Vrouwelijk |
| he is happy | hij is gelukkig |
| she is happy | zij is gelukkig |
| he is American | hij is Amerikaans |
| she is American | zij is Amerikaanse |
| man | man |
| woman | vrouw |
| father | vader |
| mother | moeder |
| brother | broer |
| sister | zus |
| uncle | oom |
| aunt | tante |
| bull | stier |
| cow | koe |
| boy | jongen |
| girl | meisje |
Notice the structure of the Feminine in Dutch.
Below is a list of objects, can you determine whether they're feminine, masculine or plural in Dutch? Memorizing this table will also help you add very useful and important words to your Dutch vocabulary.
| English Vocabulary | Dutch Vocabulary |
|---|---|
| objects | objecten |
| bathroom | badkamer |
| bed | bed |
| bedroom | slaapkamer |
| ceiling | plafond |
| chair | stoel |
| clothes | kleren |
| coat | jas |
| cup | beker/kop |
| desk | bureau |
| dress | kleding/jurk |
| floor | verdieping/vloer |
| fork | vork |
| furniture | meubilair |
| glass | glas |
| hat | hoed |
| house | huis |
| ink | inkt |
| jacket | jas |
| kitchen | keuken |
| knife | mes |
| lamp | lamp |
| letter | brief |
| map | kaart |
| newspaper | krant |
| notebook | notitieboek |
| pants | broek |
| paper | papier |
| pen | pen |
| pencil | potlood |
| pharmacy | apotheek |
| picture | foto |
| plate | bord |
| refrigerator | koelkast |
| restaurant | restaurant |
| roof | dak |
| room | kamer |
| rug | vloerkleed |
| scissors | schaar |
| shampoo | shampoo |
| shirt | hemd/shirt |
| shoes | schoenen |
| soap | zeep |
| socks | sokken |
| spoon | lepel |
| table | tafel |
| toilet | toilet |
| toothbrush | tandenborstel |
| toothpaste | tandpasta |
| towel | handdoek |
| umbrella | paraplu |
| underwear | ondergoed |
| wall | muur |
| wallet | portemonnee |
| window | venster/raam |
| telephone | telefoon |
Feminine and Masculine have a very important role in Dutch. Once you're done with the Nederlands Feminine, you might want to check the rest of our Dutch lessons here: Learn Dutch. Don't forget to bookmark this page.
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