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Gender of words in Dutch and the consequences for other words

Gender of nouns
Articles
Referring back to a noun by using 'hij', 'zij' or 'het'
The effect of gender on adjectives
This and that (in relation to gender)
Male and female names for professions
Links

Gender of nouns

Every Dutch noun (zelfstandig naamwoord) has a gender (geslacht).

In the past, there were 3 genders, masculine, feminine and neuter (I don't know why they call it this way. I would think neutral would be more logical). Nowadays, for most purposes, no distinction is made anymore between masculine and feminine.

The gender of the noun determines a lot of other things. But unfortunately, there are not a lot of clear rules that can tell you the gender of the noun. You just have to memorize it for each noun.

An English page about gender, and the Chinese equivalent.

Articles

Just like in English, there are definite and indefinite articles (lidwoorden). In English 'a' is an indefinite article, and 'the' is a definite article.

In Dutch, een is the indefinite article, and it is the same for nouns of all genders.

Alas there are 2 definite articles, 1 for masculine/feminine nouns (de) and 1 for neuter (het) ones.

De is used for masculine/feminine nouns, het for neuter ones.

Here you can find a very clear English explanation of definite articles.

Wikipedia also has (more complex) articles (in English and Chinese) about articles.

Referring back to a noun by using 'hij', 'zij' or 'het'

Example: De jongen zat op een bank. Hij las een boek. (The boy was seated at a bench. He was reading a book.)

Depending on the gender of the noun (jongen in this example), you have to use hij, zij or het to refer back to it in another, or later in the same sentence.

As far as I know, in Dutch Dutch (as contrasted with Belgian Dutch), zij is almost never used (although technically incorrect). Except of course when you're talking about a female person or animal, then zij *is* used.

So usually you use hij for everything, whether a thing is masculine or feminine, and het for neuter nouns.

The effect of gender on adjectives

Plural

Let's start with the most simple part. An adjective in front of a plural noun always gets an 'e' at the end.

Examples: gele auto's (yellow cars), grote bomen (big trees), dikke boeken (thick books).

Singular

When you use an adjective before a singular noun, you have to know the gender again.

After de and het the adjective always ends in an 'e'.
Examples: de grote boom, het dikke boek.

After een, only an adjective before a feminine or a masculin noun gets an 'e' at the end. Adjectives before a neuter noun don't.
Examples: een grote boom, een dik boek.

Summary

So in fact it's very easy: there is just 1 situation in which an adjective before a noun doesn't get an 'e' at the end: if the noun is neuter and singular.

This and that (in relation to gender)

Like with 'the', we also have 2 Dutch words for 'this' (when used as an adjective for a noun), and 2 words for 'that'.

This

The 2 words for 'this' are dit (neuter) and deze (masculine/feminine).

So you say dit glas (this glass) and deze kat (this cat).

That

The 2 words for 'that' are dat (neuter) and die (masculine/feminine).

So you say dat boek (that book) and die student.

Male and female names for professions

This page (in Dutch) explains quite clearly when professions are called the same for males and females, and when there are separate names.

Female form of 'ober'

An ober is someone who serves drinks and food in restaurants, cafe's, etc.

There is no female equivalent of ober.
But: another word with the same meaning is kelner, and there is an equivalent for that: kelnerin.

A specific term for females (I think there is no male equivalent) is serveerster.

And finally, although almost never used to address the people who are serving, you can use the terms bedieningsmedewerker and bedieningsmedewerkster to refer to males and females, respectively.

See this page on Wikipedia (in Dutch).

When to put an 'e' behind an adjective, pronoun, etc.

In the below table I will use the same words as examples over and over again:

'vrouw' (woman) has a female gender, and I will use the adjective 'mooi(e)' (pretty, beautiful);
'boom' (tree) has a male gender, and I will use the adjective 'dik(ke)' (thick);
'boek' (book) has a neuter gender, and I will use the adjective 'ro(o)d(e)' (red).

Type of word	Female singular definite	Male singular definite	Neutral singular definite	Singular Indefinite	Plural definite	Plural indefinite	Remarks
Article	de de vrouw	de de boom	het het boek	een een vrouw; een boom; een boek	de de boeken	-- boeken	No difference between 'de' and 'het'. Gender has to be memorized, although there are some guidelines.
Adjective	+e de mooie vrouw	+e de dikke boom	+e het rode boek	-e een rood boek	+e de rode boeken	+e rode boeken
Demonstrative pronoun	die/deze die vrouw ; deze mooie vrouw	die/deze die boom ; deze dikke boom	dat/dit dat boek ; dit rode boek		die/deze die vrouwen; deze dikke bomen; die rode boeken
Interrogative pronoun	+e welke vrouw; welke mooie vrouw	+e welke boom; welke dikke boom	-e welk boek; welk rood boek		+e welke vrouwen; welke boeken		'Welk' means 'which'.
Possessive pronoun	+e onze vrouw; onze mooie vrouw	+e onze boom; onze dikke boom	-e ons boek; ons rode boek		+e onze dikke bomen; onze rode boeken		'ons/onze' is the only possessive pronoun that is conjugated like an adjective. Other poss. pronouns, like 'mijn' (my), 'jouw' (your), 'zijn' (his) always stay the same.
Indefinite pronoun