Welcome to the World of Dutch Adjectives!
Have you ever wanted to describe something as big, small, red, or blue in Dutch? You’re in the right place! Adjectives are the words that make your sentences more colorful.
What are Adjectives?
Adjectives describe nouns (people, places, things, or ideas). In Dutch, they work a lot like English. For example, instead of saying “the house,” you can say “the big house” (het grote huis).
Forms and Endings of Dutch Adjectives
Attributive vs. Predicative Use
If an adjective comes before a noun (attributive), it usually gets -e. If it comes after a verb like zijn (predicative), it stays basic.
- Attributive: De grote hond (The big dog)
- Predicative: De hond is groot (The dog is big)
The “-e” Ending Rule
Most of the time you add -e. Special case: with a singular neuter noun (a het-word) after een, you often don’t add -e.
- De mooie man (The handsome man)
- Het mooie huis (The beautiful house)
- Een mooi huis (A beautiful house — no “-e”)
Placement of Adjectives
In Dutch, adjectives usually come right before the noun. With multiple adjectives, size often comes before color.
- De grote rode auto (The big red car)
- Een oud wit huis (An old white house)
Comparative and Superlative Adjectives
Bigger, Faster, Stronger (Comparative)
For “more”, usually add -er. For longer adjectives, use meer. Use dan (than) when comparing.
- groter dan (bigger than)
- meer interessant dan (more interesting than)
The Best of the Best (Superlative)
For “most”, add -st or use meest. You often see het before it.
- het grootst (the biggest)
- het meest interessant (the most interesting)
Useful Dutch Adjectives
| English | Dutch |
|---|---|
| Big | groot |
| Small | klein |
| Beautiful | mooi |
| Ugly | lelijk |
| Happy | blij |
| Angry | boos |
| Tasty | lekker |
| Old | oud |
| New | nieuw |
Practice Time
Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the adjective.
- Het is een _____ dag. (mooi)
- De _____ auto staat buiten. (rood)
- Een _____ huis kost veel geld. (groot)
Show answers
Answers: 1) mooie, 2) rode, 3) groot
