Grammatical Gender in Dutch

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Dutch, like most Germanic languages, features grammatical gender. It has three genders: masculine, feminine (de-nouns), and neuter (het-nouns). Therefore you should, as best as you can, learn the nouns' genders. It's generally accepted, though, to treat a feminine noun as masculine, if it's not referring to an obviously feminine being.

Remember, there can always be exceptions to those patterns, but it will save a lot of time and effort to learn them anyway. If you want to look up the gender of a word in Dutch, use this, or if that doesn't help, you can try this.

In Dutch, words can be put together to form a new word. When this happens, the last part of the word decides the gender (except in extremely rare cases) - therefore, "achteruitgang" is masculine, because "gang" is masculine.

Patterns (or words) that are obligatory feminine, will be marked with italics. "Obligatory", in the sense of "it is seen as low style to use them masculine".

Contents

Determining gender from a text

Don't miss the opportunity to learn genders of words when reading. You can see the gender of a noun when reading it in definite form. Example: "het kind" => neutrum. "de wet" => definitely common gender. But, you can also sometimes see it in an indefinite word, thanks to the adjective. "Een mooie vrouw", the adjective ends with -e => de-word. "Een lief mannetje" , the adjective doesn't end with -e => het-word. If you read some dialectal text, some feminine nouns can get some adjectives without the -e too.

Guessing gender with knowledge of other languages

If a word has a certain gender in a related language, it is likely to have it in Dutch too. Dutch and German are very closely related, for example. But it also works with other Germanic languages, for example Swedish. Ett öga, het oog. En mun, de mond. Et cetera. There are lots of exceptions to this, though, so don't use this method if you have means of looking up the actual gender.

When words are borrowed from Latin, they most often get the same gender in Dutch. So assume that, if a dictionary tells you nothing of the word of which you want to determine the gender. The same thing might apply to other languages.

If a swedish cognate ends in -a and gets plural on -or, it's (almost) always feminine in Dutch too. The only exception I know of is "pot", which has turned masculine over time (I've only seen it feminine in the name "Van der Pot". Same thing goes for "koek"!

If it's -ière in French, it's feminine in Dutch. Example: de banier (v.)

Patterns for determining gender in Dutch

Random notes

  • It often happens that collective nouns are neuter, and countable instances are common gender.. "het water" = mass noun, "de druppel" = countable
  • A similiar thing occurs:
    • Trees are masculine, but the wood you can get from them is neuter.
      • Most fruits are feminine
    • Same with animals
    • Stones
    • probably more stuff
  • Names for currencies (money!) are masculine, with very few exceptions.

Neutrum

  • All diminutives. -je -tje -kje -pje -ke -etje -eke
  • Verb stems with those prefixes, if they don't bear stress: be- ge- er- her- ver- ont-.
    • Masculine exceptions: verkoop, verhuur (verbstems of "verkopen" and "verhuren)
  • All substantivized words, especially infinitives. "het eten", "het formelle u", "het voor en tegen van een zaak", "het nee"
  • Words with the suffixes -isme -asme (most likely all -sme) -ment. "het egoïsme" "sacrament" "het sarcasme"
    • consument(m.)
    • feminine in WNT, but neuter in Vandale, for the sake of uniformity - use het
      • cataclysme daltonisme dandyisme darwinisme enthousiasme exhibitionisme existentialisme finalisme galvanisme isolationisme psychologisme relativisme thomisme triomfalisme vandalisme voluntarisme *
    • masculine in WNT, but neuter in Vandale, for the sake of uniformity - use het
      • classicisme neonazisme trotskisme
    • Those words that probably nolonger are used (so people just might think they sound better with "het" anyway, should you decide to use them)
      • masculine: alligement arrentement equiment fantasme
      • feminine: discommodement versement benedictinisme chromatisme colorisme constructivisme decadentisme emanatisme flechterisme hesychasme hiëratisme renaissancisme revisme tutiorisme uranisme utilisme vampirisme wahabisme
  • Words with the suffix -sel, without emphasis. "aanbaksel"
    • Hopefully exceptions will be sorted out some time.
  • Words with the suffixes -voud -tal. "drievoud" "elftal"
    • masculine: eenvoud
    • not words like "stal", -tal is strictly a suffix in this rule
  • Words with the suffix -dom, in a collective meaning. "het mensdom"
  • Words with the suffix -schap, in a collective meaning. "het vaderschap"
  • Latin loan words ending with -um -ium. "museum" "unicum" (not refering to people)
    • masculine: datum drum magnum oleum parabellum scrum winegum solarium (in some meaning)
      • anthurium lakanthurium lycopodium(in some meanings) oestrum opossum(when refering to the animal) perineum xeranthemum arum fanum landorium wampum zum zythum
    • feminine: lorum(in de lorum = drunk) mitochondrium neum(not really counting) petroleum prothallium "schola(e) cantorum" chrysanthemum geranium
    • omnium have all 3 genders in different meanings
    • neuter or masculine: gum
    • masculine or feminine: rum
  • Words ending with -geen. "het allergeen"
    • feminine: quadrageen
  • Words ending with -eem. "het probleem" (small reach, but there's still a lot more neuter-words here than average)
    • feminine: bireem trireem (and probably therefore also "quatreem", should that exist) feem kreem peem scheem zeem (found once as feminine according to WNT) zweem (some meanings)
    • masculine: heem (in some meanings) teem treem zweem deem leem (some meanings) opneem strategeem streem zweem (some meanings)
    • neuter or masculine: diadeem leem heem honigzeem leem (some meanings) zeem
    • masculine or feminine: alverneem
    • masculine or feminine: treem uitheem
    • Some compound nouns including the word "zeem" and sometimes "zeem" in some of its meanings become masculine, others neuter.
  • Names of companies. "het noodlijdende Vitality B.V."
  • Names of continents, islands, countries, cities or other geografical entities. "Europa, het is mooi!"
    • De Verenigde Staten (plural)
    • De Oekraïne (vrouwelijk)
  • Languages. "het Nederlands" "het Zweeds"
  • Metals, colors, wind-directions. "het goud" "het rood" "het oosten"
  • -signe
    • No known exceptions to this small cathegory. Might be good to think about when borrowing words though.
  • Adjectives used as nouns, not referring to persons. "donker"
  • Human or animal kids are often neuter. "kind" "kalf"
  • Some words that would appear to be verbstems, for example: werk, feest, stuur, cijfer, deel, graf.
  • -oma (not refering to people)
    • feminine: stoma
  • -lect (not refering to people)
  • -ioom -soom -coom
    • No known exceptions
  • -niem (not refering to people)
    • het pseudoniem (is about the name, not the person)
  • -script
    • masculine: script (a text)
  • -toom -thoom
    • Only as suffixes in loan words. Not: toom (m.) stoom (m.)
  • -spect
    • No known exceptions
  • -gram
    • neuter or masculine: gram (0,001 kilogram)
    • feminine: gram (in the expression "zijn gram halen")
    • masculine: gram(anger, bitterness)
  • -creet
    • No known exceptions
  • -ict (not about persons)
    • amict (m.)
  • -signe
    • No known exceptions
  • -tron (not about people)
    • masculine: magnetron
  • -sma
    • masculine: piroplasma (a kind of parasite)
  • -ma (not persons)
    • masculine: cinema/kinema kurkuma lama(animal) panama piroplasma poema pyjama Quadragesima Quinquagesima Septuagesima Sexagesima
    • feminine: firma, anima, Doema, enema, gewrichtsreuma mamma penultima prima schistosoma sclerema shoarma sigma somma stoma stremma xeroderma
  • -ceen (not about people)
    • No known exceptions
  • Words with the suffix -aat. Exceptions to -aat words being Neuter in Dutch
    • This is to be re-worked, using the words in WNT too
  • -ect, -ekt
    • Not humans. Example: prefect
    • Most words on -kt and -ct are neuter. I have yet to work this out in detail though :)

uter

  • Abstract nouns are often feminine, while non-abstract often are masculine.
  • Adjectives used as substantives, referring to persons (note that perfect participles some times are used as substantives). "blinde"
  • Name for persons that can be used for both males and females are used accordingly. "baby"
  • Geographical words, and names of celestial bodies. "stad", "ster".
    • This was listed as feminine, but I have no means of checking if it's true.
  • Patterns that only separate het/de:
    • -ness
    • -one (not substances, for example "het silicone" and "het ecdysone", for they are always neuter)
    • -ks
      • The substance from the tree "de lariks" is neuter "het lariks", just like by all other trees.
      • het sticks (highsticking in hockey), het links (the political left wing)
      • Languages are neuter.
    • -em [ɛm] or [əm], not -eem
      • beroem (doesn't end in that sound, but should not be mistaked for falling under this pattern)
      • neuter or masculinum: slem
      • neuter: kolsem porem
        • hem (dialect for hemd), fiem (not right sound)
        • ge- -em
    • -aak
      • Most words you can't identify as verbstems are feminine. (the verbstems are masculine). I might look further into this later.
      • neuter: schaak slaak vermaak ontwaak raak(in some meanings)
    • -wel
      • neuter: wel(well-being, substantivized adverb), gruwel(in one meaning), je-weet-wel(refering to a het-word), kwel (neuter or feminine in some meanings), vaarwel (substantivized interjection)
    • -zel
      • neuter: boezel filozel kiezel(as substance) vazel zel
    • -chel
      • not ge- -chel
      • neuter: kachel (in some dialectal meaning)
    • -rn
      • neuter: concern karn (in some meaning) quatern quintern scharn hoorn (as substance) moederkoorn
      • neuter or feminine: sextern, katern

Masculinum

  • Words referring to obviously masculine people or animals (exception: "het kind"). "man" "vader" "hengst"
  • Substantives made by the stem of a verb. "spuit" "wil" "dank" "slaap"
  • All trees. "boom"
    • feminine or masculine: "linde" and "tamarinde"
  • Names for trees and stones. de peer, de kers, de smaragd, de diamant
  • Names for mountains, ships, and several rivers and sea-parts
  • Words with the suffixes -aar -aard -er -erd -or -eur -ian. "leugenaar" "dronkaard" "engerd"
  • Substantivized adjectives ending with -ling. "lieveling"
  • Words ending on -dom, without collective meaning. "rijkdom"
  • -lm
    • neuter: aardmolm, bouwalm, napalm (stofnaam), halm (in some meaning)
    • feminine: scholm
    • feminine or neuter: helm (some plant)
    • neuter or masculine or feminine: turfmolm
    • masculine or feminine: grashalm jacobzalm pulm wijpalm zalm
    • feminine or masculine: film (in the meaning of a thin material) (hand)palm
  • -rm
    • (Some words are marked with one gender only in vandale, but with several genders in WNT, in those cases I follow vandale, but extensive information is available in the discussionpage)
    • neuter: scherm platform jodoform ectoderm warm alarm
    • feminine: endoderm garm norm
    • masculine or feminine: barm
  • -zem
    • No known exceptions
  • -sem
    • (Some words are marked with one gender only in vandale, but with several genders in WNT, in those cases I follow vandale, but extensive information is available in the discussionpage)
    • neuter: kolsem
    • feminine: persem smiksem
  • -dem
    • masculine or feminine: vadem
  • -faag
    • according to WNT sarcofaag is feminine, but in Vandale and Het Groene Boekje, it's masculine, just like all other faag-words.
  • -odroom
    • All -odroom can be treated as masculine, according to Vandale, but half of them are marked as also neuter. There are no feminine -odroom words though, so this can be a helpful hint anyway.
  • -eo
    • feminine: stereo
  • -cus -ius -tus (and lots of other words on -us)
  • -arch (also the english -earch)
    • "research" is feminine in WNT, but masculine in Vandale and het Groene Boekje
  • -iak
    • ammoniak is feminine in WNT, but masculine in Vandale en het Groene Boekje
  • -sh
    • feminine: brainwash flash stash whiplash
      • I see no reason why it would be motivated to treat those words as feminine though, especially since all English nouns also can serve (and be borrowed) as verbs: brainwashen, flashen
    • Neuter exceptions: squash
  • -cal -ical -kal -ikal
    • neuter: tropical (stofnaam)
    • ge- and verbstem
  • -scoop -skoop
    • feminine or masculine: "scoop" - Better be treated as masculine, in my opinion, since it's an English loanword.
    • masculine or neuter: microscoop
    • neuter: zymosioscoop
  • -ax (but not the feminine "hoax", which is pronounced like in english)
    • feminine: de telefax (while de fax is masculine, which makes no sense, so treat it masculine)
    • masculine in vandale, feminine in WNT: antrax, bax, borax, climax, parallax
    • neuter: "sax" in the meaning of scissors/knife
    • Neuter exception: het imax, whatever that is.
    • -aks words are never neuter
      • feminine: aks taks (english: tax) klabaks kraks saks (a saxon sausage!)
      • masculine: baks klaks raaks taks (the dog) saks (other meanings)
      • I'd treat all those words, except "taks" as masculine anyway, unless I get told that it sounds very wrong.
  • -kel
    • neuter: artikel cenakel conventikel enkel inkel "mene tekel" mirakel mispickel obstakel orakel partikel perikel receptakel scharminkel spektakel vehikel ventrikel
    • words beginning with ge- and ending with -kel are neuter, and "geldwinkel" doesn't qualify for that(!)
    • words refering to feminine persons are feminine: mokkel
    • feminine: fakkel, majuskel, minuskel, sikkel
    • Details (raw material + a few more optional feminine exceptions): Article on -kel words being masculine in Dutch
    • -mel
      • neuter: mormel, oxymel, kalomel
      • feminine: gamel, hamel, lamel, poemel, pommel (verwijst naar "ene vrouwmensch":D), stremel, trommel
      • feminine or masculine: chocomel caramel/karamel zemel
  • The seasons are masculine.
    • de lente is feminime, -te
    • het najaar, het voorjaar (because "jaar" is neuter)
  • All months are masculine
    • Not the really old names like sprokkelmaand or oogstmaand (maand is feminine)
  • -graaf
    • feminine: loopgraaf (and similar meanings, if any)
    • In WNT some -graaf words are feminine, but that seems not to be the case anymore, as Vandale and het Groene Boekje marks them as masculine only.
  • -pel
    • feminine: ampel kapel grampel greppel kerspel kupel mispel (vrucht) pappel pel peppel pompel rompel rampel stippel tiepel tripel wepel
    • neuter: appel (in some meaning) spel compel dompel espel exempel kreupel pel (some meaning) peupel (people:D) popel (people) rappel scalpel scrupel sinopel (color) velpel
    • neuter or masculine: schepel stempel
    • -goon

Femininum

  • Words referring to obviously female persons or animals (exception: "het wijf"). "tante" "nicht" "moeder"
  • All letters.
  • Words with the following suffixes or endings:
    • -heid "waarheid"
    • -schap, meaning a feeling or a state. "beterschap" "blijdschap"
    • -te "diepte"
    • -de "liefde"
      • -ude has no exceptions except male persons
      • ade
        • masculine: chocolade, jade (stone),
      • -ode
        • masculine: code
          • words refering to persons, like: bode rapsode
      • -ide has no exceptions in Van Dale, except male persons</i>
        • ge- -ide
        • some substances, for example: het amide
      • Watch out for colors, substances, ordinal numbers etc - and words beginning with ge-
      • neuter: terzijde einde gilde
      • masculinum: demi-monde kludde
      • "vrede" is masculine or feminine. All compounds with "vrede" at the end are masculine, except "zielenvrede" which is feminine. I'd treat all of those like masculine.
    • -ij -erij -arij -enij -ernij. "voogdij" "bedriegerij" "rijmelarij" "artsenij" "razernij"
      • neuter: schilderij
    • -ing or -st after a verb stem "wandeling" "winst"
      • masculine: dienst
      • masculine: rotting (no verbstem?)
    • -tie -logie -sofie -agogie: "familie" "politie" "biologie" "filosofie" "demagogie"
      • neuter: kastie (a game)
    • other -ie
      • words refering to male people
      • as diminutive; example: duppie drukkie saffie schorremorrie stikkie toppie
      • masculine: amfibie boogie-woogie kanarie koffie kolibrie piezewi walkie-talkie zombie
      • masculine (uncommon words): bain-marie dollie kepie inventorie kauzarie kiee rabbie sharpie twie ullie vomitorie
      • neuter: evangelie consistorie (in some meanings) denarie (coin) minesterie monopolie (en ook: oligopolie) mysterie officie sacrificie seminarie
      • neuter (uncommon words): auspicie electoirie emunctorie kastie (a game) koffertorie maleficie patrinomie pessarie proverbie retrié superplie testimonie
    • -cy -ty (same as the -ie ones, but borrowed via english)
      • masculine: penty penalty
    • -iek -ica: "muziek" "logica"
      • It might be that this rule in fact only applies to abstract nouns.
      • masculine: elektriek lambiek alambiek Belgiek biek brillenkiek kramiek piek (about money)
      • masculine or neuter: mastiek
      • neuter: excentriek cantiek diptiek elastiek formica kiek mozaïek fysiek plastiek (in some meanings) veneriek
      • neuter or feminine: fabriek koliek portiek publiek reliek majolica
    • -theek -teit -iteit. "discotheek" "puberteit" "subtiliteit"
      • komiteit (o.)
      • steek (m.), versteek (o.) - to avoid confusion
    • -tuur "natuur"
      • neuter: stuur bestuur avontuur creatuur postuur uur
      • masculine: male persons + "tuur" in some meanings
    • -ture
      • No known exceptions
    • -sure
      • masculine: exposure (sounds more like -er)
    • -suur "censuur"
      • Words ending with "uur" (het), meaning hour or time
    • -age. "tuigage"
      • neuter: apanage bosschage reservage visage
      • masculine: masculine persons + gaufrage umbrage
      • neuter or feminine: corsage image personage
    • -ine. "discipline"
      • masculine: male people + dragline perdomine
      • neuter: substances + racine + magazine
      • neuter or feminine: mousseline perkaline quercitrine strychnine
    • -se. "analyse"
      • masculine: bardassse collaps(e) striptease tortelblesse
      • neuter: morse verhemelse
      • In some dialects -se is used as a diminiutive, which makes it be neutrum - you should never come across this in writing though.
    • -nis. "kennis"
      • neuter: ambervernis bavonnis tennis vonnis
      • neuter or masculine: vernis
      • neuter or feminine: geheimenis getuigenis heimenis vuilnis
    • -sis. "crisis"
      • masculine: assis
      • feminine or masculine: cassis
      • neuter: chassis gesis
    • -xis -tis. "syntaxis" "bronchitis"
      • aqua fortis (o.), artis (m.)
    • -ze "de pauze"
      • masculine: bonze geuze(beer) matze tropopauze
      • neuter: roze(color) boze(substantivized adjective) Belize(country)
    • -gne
      • neuter: -signe
      • masculine: bourgogne
    • -be
      • masculine: rebbe
      • other exceptions aren't in vandale or het groene boekje, so they are probably not very used, or might even be dialectal. nontheless:
      • bébé (about male babies) - "bé" doesn't really fall under this ending though
      • scribe refers to male persons
      • masculine or feminine: globe, hecatombe, tandpastatube
      • masculine: bombe jobbe labbe tibbe wabbe wibbe
      • neuter: jubé (not really belonging here) stubbe
    • -sia -gia
      • no known exceptions
    • -ia (other)
      • masculine: ammonia dia kleurendia paria
      • neuter: colors like "fuschia" + Ave-Maria patria gloria brittania Utopia widia (a metal)
    • -ence -ance
      • pièce de résistance (o.)
    • -fora
      • There aren't many such words, but could be a nice guideline if you make a new loan.
    • -ea -oea
      • masculine: spirea
    • -iool
      • het stanniol (substance)
      • het, de (m./f.) vitriool
    • -we (very small group)
      • not masculine persons
    • -ke
      • Diminutives => neuter, example: ollekebolleke
      • A few English loans => masculine: cake, choke, sweepstake, bike, fake, hike, milkshake, remake
      • masculine: kopeke (a coin), makke (a sickness), tuke (an old horse), wentke, wokke, sake (alcohol), spike
      • The rest are feminine
    • -fel
      • not ge- -fel
      • neuter: duffel(as substance) erfel triefel
      • masculine: duffel(a jacket) buffel(animal) falafel goffeldoffel gootroffel schoefel snaffel christoffel(picture of a male saint) roefel
        • verbstems: knuffel haffel poffel moffel twijfel roffel ruifel schuifel schoffel troffel staffel riffel
Making feminine versions of masculine persons

By adding the suffixes -es -ster -ice -in -e -esse, you make masculine words referring to male persons feminine so they can be used with female persons.

Examples:

  • leraar, lerares (teacher)
  • schrijver, schrijfster (writer)
  • acteur, atrice (actor)
  • koning, koningin (king, queen)
  • student, studente (student)
  • lieveling, lievelinge (darling)
  • secretaris, secretaresse (secretary)

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