Object Pronouns
Object Pronouns
Dutch object pronouns come in pairs — a full form and a reduced one, mij and me, jou and je, hun and ze. English marks emphasis with the voice alone; Dutch changes the word itself.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Stressed and unstressed forms are different words
Hij ziet mij. (emphatic) / Hij ziet me. (neutral)
He sees ME. / He sees me.
English says 'me' either way and signals emphasis by stressing it. Dutch has two distinct forms: the full mij, jou, haar, hun for emphasis and contrast, and the reduced me, je, ze, 'r for ordinary unstressed use. In normal speech the reduced forms dominate, and using the full form everywhere makes you sound like you are constantly emphasizing something. hem and ons have only one form each.
Indirect objects take no preposition when they come first
Ik geef hem het boek. / Ik geef het boek aan hem.
I give him the book. / I give the book to him.
Both patterns exist in both languages and work the same way: put the recipient first and no preposition is needed; put it last and it takes aan ('to'). Dutch differs in one respect — when the direct object is a pronoun too, the recipient must take aan: Ik geef het aan hem, not 'ik geef hem het'. English tolerates 'I gave him it' in speech; Dutch does not.
ze covers both 'them' and unstressed 'her'
Ik zie ze. (I see them.) / Ik zie ze. (I see her.)
I see them. / I see her.
The reduced pronoun ze is genuinely ambiguous between plural 'them' and singular unstressed 'her', with context doing the disambiguating. For people, the emphatic plural is hen or hun in careful writing (hen as direct object, hun as indirect object), though speakers mix them freely and ze avoids the problem entirely. This is one of the few places where standard written Dutch and spoken Dutch pull noticeably apart.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- me
- English
- you (informal)
- English
- you (formal)
- English
- him
- English
- her
- English
- us
- English
- you (plural)
- English
- them
- English
- I give it to him
- English
- I'll help you
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