Word Formation: Compounds & Affixes
Word Formation: Compounds & Affixes
Dutch builds new words by gluing old ones together, and the process is fully productive: if you know the parts, you can both decode and invent words. This is why Dutch dictionaries can never be complete.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Compounds are right-headed, sometimes with a linking -s- or -en-
de boekenkast, het staatsbezoek, de tandarts
the bookcase, the state visit, the dentist
The last element carries the meaning and the gender: de kast makes de boekenkast. Many compounds insert a linking sound between the parts — -en- (boekenkast, tandenborstel) or -s- (staatsbezoek, dorpsplein). There is no rule you can apply reliably, though -en- often appears where the first element is plural in sense. English writes most of these as two words, so the main work is learning to read long strings as single units.
Prefixes: on- for negation, ver- for change, be- for making transitive
onmogelijk, veranderen, bespreken
impossible, to change, to discuss
on- is the direct counterpart of English 'un-' and negates freely: onmogelijk, onaardig, ongelukkig. ver- signals transformation or motion away — veranderen, verhuizen, verkopen. be- turns an intransitive verb or a noun into a transitive verb: spreken ('to speak') becomes bespreken ('to discuss'), antwoord becomes beantwoorden ('to answer something'). Recognizing these three unlocks a very large amount of vocabulary at once.
Suffixes build nouns and adjectives predictably
de mogelijkheid, de verandering, betaalbaar, werkloos
the possibility, the change, affordable, unemployed
-heid makes abstract nouns from adjectives and is always a de-word (de vrijheid, de waarheid). -ing makes nouns from verbs, also de-words (de verandering, de betaling). -baar corresponds to English '-able' (betaalbaar, leesbaar) and -loos to '-less' (werkloos, zinloos). Because the gender comes with the suffix, these endings solve the de/het problem for a large slice of the vocabulary.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- the bookcase
- English
- the toothbrush
- English
- impossible
- English
- to change
- English
- to discuss
- English
- the possibility
- English
- the freedom
- English
- affordable
- English
- unemployed
- English
- the friendship
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