Dutch in Belgium
Dutch in Belgium
Roughly six million people speak Dutch in Belgium, where it is often called Vlaams. The grammar is the same standard language, but the pronouns, the everyday vocabulary and the register conventions differ enough to notice within a sentence or two.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
ge and gij are everyday pronouns in Flanders
Hebt ge dat gezien? Wat doet gij hier?
Have you seen that? What are you doing here?
Where the northern standard uses jij and je, Flemish speech uses gij and ge, with the verb taking a -t ending: ge hebt, ge doet, ge zijt ('you are'). The object and possessive forms are u and uw, which means u in Flanders is often informal — the opposite of its northern function. This single difference is the fastest way to place a speaker.
Distinct everyday vocabulary
goesting, ambetant, seffens, het kot, curieus
desire / appetite, annoying, in a moment, the student room, odd
Flemish keeps a set of common words that are unknown or archaic in the north: goesting where the north says zin, seffens for straks, ambetant for irritant, curieus for both 'curious' and 'strange'. Some northern words are equally opaque in the south. Neither set is wrong — both are standard within their own region, and dictionaries mark them as Belgisch-Nederlands or Nederlands-Nederlands.
Register conventions differ, not just words
Ik noem Jan. / Kunt u mij zeggen ... ?
My name is Jan. / Could you tell me ... ?
Flemish uses noemen ('to be called') where the north uses heten, so Ik noem Jan is ordinary in Belgium and puzzling in the Netherlands. More broadly, Flemish speech is noticeably more formal in public settings: the polite forms appear earlier and more often, and diminutives and softening particles are distributed differently. Between the strict standard and broad dialect sits an intermediate spoken variety often called tussentaal.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- you (Flemish)
- English
- you are (Flemish)
- English
- desire / appetite (Flemish)
- English
- annoying (Flemish)
- English
- in a moment (Flemish)
- English
- the student room (Flemish)
- English
- odd / curious (Flemish)
- English
- to be called (Flemish use)
- English
- Flemish
- English
- the intermediate spoken variety
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