Dutch. A linguistic history of Holland and Belgium

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6 The grammar of Dutch (morphology)

Articles, gender and nouns

Dutch nouns are of one of two genders - common gender or neuter. Common gender incorporates what were formerly masculine and feminine nouns, a distinction which is now only sometimes made in pronominal substition (see p. 61).

The definite article is as follows:

	common gender	neuter	plural (both genders)
the	de	het	de

As with so many other European languages, gender generally has to be learnt parrot fashion with every new noun; there are few water-tight rules for determining gender. Exceptions to this are certain nominal endings which always indicate one or other gender e.g. the diminutive ending -je is neuter and the abstract endings-heid (Eng. -hood, -ness) and -ing, for example, are always common gender. Compound nouns, as in German, always take the gender of the last element e.g. de stad (town) + het huis (house) > het stadhuis (town hall).

The indefinite article, een (pron. 'n), is the same for both genders but the demonstratives require separate forms for either gender:

	common gender	neuter	plural (both genders)
that, those:	die	dat	die
this, these:	deze	dit	deze

Possession

Possession is usually expressed by means of the preposition van e.g. het huis van mijn vriend (my friend's house); the so-called Anglo-Saxon genitive with s is sometimes used in Dutch with normal nouns e.g. mijn vaders hoed (my father's hat) but is frequently used with proper nouns e.g. Piets dochter (Piet's daughter). In spoken Dutch a further variant is commonly heard where the unstressed form of the possessive is inserted between the possessor and the thing possessed e.g. mijn hond z'n poot (my dog's leg, lit. my dog his leg), zijn moeder d'r tante (his mother's aunt, lit. his mother her aunt).

Although the masculine and neuter genitive singular of the definite article, 's (< des), is found only in standard expressions e.g. 's morgens (in the morning), the feminine genitive singular and the genitive plural, der, is still productive in written language e.g. de geheimen der taal^1. (the secrets of the language), de koningin der Nederlanden (the queen of the Netherlands).

1. Here taal is still felt to be a feminine noun (see p. 62).

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Case

With the exception of the above and a host of standard expressions, case is no longer indicated, with the result that the situation is now very similar to English. Compare:

English:	The woman gave the apple to the child.
Dutch:	De vrouw gaf de appel aan het kind.
German:	Die Frait gab dem Kind den Apfel.

Plural of nouns

Plural formation in Dutch, although not quite as easy as in English, is infinitely simpler than in German. Generally speaking, the former weak noun plural ending -en has taken over throughout in Dutch (see p. 166), in much the same way as the plural in -s has in English, but a considerable number of nouns with particular endings also take an -s in the plural in Dutch^2., notably nouns ending in -el, -em, en and -er e.g. tafels (tables), bezems (brooms), dekens (blanckets), vaders (fathers). Diminutives, which end in -je, also take -s e.g. huisjes (houses).

2. The frequency of -en and -s plurals in Dutch is in a sense the reverse of the situation in English where -en plurals are still found, but only rarely e.g. oxen, children, brethren. The -s plural is, however, much more common in Dutch than the -en plural is in English.

Diminutives

Many languages know a diminutive ending e.g. German -chen or -lein, Italian -ino/-ina, but there is to my knowledge no language which uses its diminutive ending on nouns more than does Dutch. Although the function of a diminutive ending is basically to make small or endear, in Dutch it does this and much more - it is but one aspect of what the Dutch call gezelligheid. Someone with a knowledge of German may make light of the translation of gezelligheid by equating it with Gemütlichkeit; gezelligheid does cover the field of meaning of Gemütlichkeit plus much more. The Dutchman will be heard to use the word gezellig (cosy, chummy, pleasant) for many situations for which gemütlich is inappropriate.

The much more frequent use of the diminutive in Dutch is an example of this. The diminutive can also be used, and frequently is, to convey cynicism or humour; for example, someone who has bought a million dollar mansion can be said to have acquired een mooi huisje, for which ‘a nice little house’ is a poor translation. Similarly, a language one doesn't understand can be called een raar taaltje (a peculiar lingo). Wijf is a derogatory term for a woman, but the form wijfje refers to the female of any species of animal. And so the potential of the diminutive ending on nouns in Dutch goes on. It is, without doubt, a unique feature of the language.

Amazingly, however, the diminutive ending is not limited to nouns. Pronouns, numerals and even adverbs can take a diminutive ending to convey an extra air of gezelligheid e.g. onder-onsje (tête-à-tête); met z'n tweetjes (the two of us) - a more gezellig form of met z'n tweeën, wacht eventjes (wait just a minute), zachtjes (quietly).

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Adjectives

Adjectival inflection still exists in Dutch, as it does in German, but it has been greatly simplified in modern Dutch. The attributive adjective (i.e. before the noun) takes an -e ending in definite contexts before nouns of both genders, both singular and plural, and also before singular common gender nouns in indefinite contexts, but before singular neuter nouns in indefinite contexts it is left uninflected e.g. de/die/mijn grote auto (the/that/my large car), het/dit/zijn nieuwe huis (the/this/his new house); een/geen/iedere grote auto (a/no/every large car), een/geen/ieder nieuw huis (a/no/every new house).

The comparative and superlative of the adjective are formed by the addition of -er and -st, as in English. However, in English it is usual for adjectives of more than two syllables, and even some bisyllabic adjectives, to form their comparative and superlative periphrastically by using ‘more’ and ‘most’ in lieu of the endings -er and -st. Although Dutch meer and meest are occasionally used in a similar way in a few special cases, in general all Dutch adjectives, regardless of length, can take these endings e.g. klein - kleiner (small - smaller), interessant - interessanter (interesting - more interesting). There are also, as in English, a few adjectives with an irregular comparative and superlative form e.g. goed - beter - best (good - better - best), kwaad - erger - ergst (bad, evil - worse - worst).

Adverbs

There is no formal difference in Dutch between the predicative adjective and the adverb; in other words there is no equivalent of the English -ly ending e.g. Haar stem is erg mooi (Her voice is very nice), Zij zingt erg mooi (She sings very nicely). The ending -lijk, etymologically related to -ly, is found on both adjectives and adverbs alike e.g. vrolijk (merry/merrily), mogelijk (possible/possibly).

Numerals

The cardinal numerals show certain similarities to German in that the ‘four-and-twenty’ system is applied from 21 on and the copula ‘and’ is usually omitted in numerals over 100: een (1), twee (2), drie (3), vier (4), vijf (5), zes (6), zeven (7), acht (8), negen (9), tien (10), elf (11), twaalf (12), dertien (13), veertien (14), vijftien (15) etc., twintig (20), eenentwintig (21), tweeëntwintig (22)^3. etc., dertig (30), veertig (40), vijftig (50), zestig (60), zeventig (70), tachtig (80), negentig (90), honderd (100), honderd een (101), tweehonderd drieënvijftig (253), duizend (1000).

Een doubles up as both the indefinite article and the numeral, although there is a difference in pronunciation between the two (see p. 55); where ambiguity in writing can arise, the numeral is written één.

Drie/dertien/dertig show the same metathesis of r that is present in English, but lacking in German - compare drei/dreizehn/dreissig.

3. See p. 39 for an explanation of the diaeresis.

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The change in spelling and pronunciation in vier/veertien/veertig and the enigmatic t of tachtig are explained on p. 170.

The ordinal numerals are as follows:

eerste (1st), tweede (2nd), derde (3rd), vierde (4th), vijfde (5th), zesde (6th), zevende (7th), achtste (8th), negende (9th), tiende (10th), elfde (11th), twaalfde (12th), dertiende (13th), veertiende (14th), twintigste (20th), eenentwintigste (21st) etc.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns:

singular
subject:	ik	jij (je)	u	hij	zij (ze)	het
object:	mij (me)	jou (je)	u	hem	haar	het
possessive:	mijn	jouw (je)	uw	zijn	haar	zijn
plural
subject:	wij (we)	jullie (je)	u		zij (ze)
object:	ons	jullie (je)	u		hen/hun (ze)
possessive:	ons/onze	jullie (je)	uw		hun

As in English, there is but one object form of the pronoun because the accusative and the dative have fallen together; only the third person plural still preserves a separate dative form, hun (see p. 172).

A unique feature of some of the personal pronouns of Dutch is the fact that several have unemphatic forms that are actually written i.e. the bracketed forms above. The alternation of stressed and unstressed forms of the pronoun is shared by English too (e.g. you - ya) but such forms are not written. Most of the other pronouns given above also know unemphatic forms in the spoken language e.g. haar (d'r), het ('t), hij (ie).

U is used for polite address in both the singular and the plural, although it always takes a singular form of the verb i.e. either the second or third person ending which are the same for most verbs anyway.

See p. 68 for the pronominal use of er.

Pronominal substitution

Although the distinction between masculine and feminine nouns has become virtually extinct for non-animate things, it sometimes returns when such nouns are substituted by pronouns. The issue of pronominal substitution in Dutch is not easy for speakers of English. For example, although de deur (the door) is historically a feminine noun and de vloer (the floor) is a masculine noun, both are nowadays substituted by hij which then translates English ‘it’, as does het, of course, with reference to neuter nouns i.e. Ik doe de deur dicht. Hij is dicht (I shut the door. It is closed). Even a cow or a mother cat will usually be referred to as hij, although zij is

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possible in such cases. However, certain abstract nouns which have recognisably (formerly) feminine endings can be, and usually are in elevated speech and writing, substituted by zij and the corresponding object and possessive form haar e.g. regering (government), muziek (music), liefdadigheid (charity) or even non-compound abstract nouns such as wereld (world) and wet (law).

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns before the noun no longer inflect except for ons, which becomes onze before singular common gender nouns and plural nouns e.g. onze vader (our father), onze kinderen (our child). All independent possessives take an-e ending, however e.g. Dat is zijn stoel maar dit is de mijne (That is his chair, but this is mine).

Relative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns die/dat also act as relative pronouns in Dutch in much the same way as ‘that’ can function in English e.g. De man die hier woont, is mijn oom (The man who lives here is my uncle). As for the demonstrative pronouns, die is used to refer back to singular common gender nouns and plural nouns of both genders, whereas dat is used after singular neuter antecedents e.g. Het huis dat ik gekocht heb, was erg goedkoop (The house that/ - / which I bought, was very cheap).

When a relative pronoun which refers to a person is preceded by a preposition, wie, which is also the interrogative pronoun ‘who’, is used instead of die e.g. De vrouw aan wie ik het geld gaf ... (The lady to whom I gave the money ...). This construction is almost identical to English. When the antecedent is non-personal, however, waar + preposition is used e.g. De tafel waarop de krant ligt, is erg hoog (The table on which - lit. whereon - the newspaper is lying, is very high). But constructions of this sort are usually split in speech in the following way: De tafel waar de krant op ligt, is erg hoog (see p. 72) - compare: The table which the newspaper is lying on, is very high.

Verbs

With the exception of six monosyllabic verbs^4., Dutch infinitives always end in -en. The infinitive can also be used as a neuter noun, as in German e.g. het roken (smoking), het koken (cooking) etc. Present participles are not as commonly used as in English; they are formed by adding either -d or -de to the infinitive e.g. huilend (crying), al lezende (while reading).

4. The six are: doen (to do), gaan (to go), slaan (to hit), staan (to stand), zien (to see), zijn (to be).

Present tense

With the usual exceptions of ‘to be’ and ‘to have’ there are no irregular verbs in the present tense in Dutch. A verb is conjugated in the present indicative as follows:

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		wonen (to live, dwell)
ik	woon	wij	wonen
jij/u	woont	jullie	wonen
hij, zij, het	woont	zij	wonen

When the second person singular (i.e. only jij, not u) inverts, the -t ending is dropped for phonetic reasons e.g. woon jij? (do you live?) Historically the second person plural took a -t ending but nowadays it is usual to use -en throughout the plural.

Imperative

The imperative is the same as the stem^5. of the verb for all persons, singular or plural i.e. woon (live).

5. The stem of the verb is that part which remains when the -en of the infinitive is removed; this often causes certain spelling changes (see p. 37).

Imperfect tense of weak verbs

Consistent with all other Germanic languages, the imperfect of weak verbs is formed by the addition of a dental suffix i.e. either -de/-den or -te/-ten, depending on whether the stem of the verb to which the suffix is added, ends in a voiced or an unvoiced sound^6. e.g. ik woonde/wij woonden (I lived/we lived) but ik stopte/wij stopten (I stopped/we stopped). Because of the tendency not to pronounce the final n in such words (see p. 55), in practice the singular and the plural fall together in speech.

6. The explanation given here is in fact a slight oversimplification - compare blaffen (to bark) - blafte and geloven (to believe) - geloofde; kussen (to kiss) - kuste and reizen (to travel) - reisde.

Past participle of weak verbs

The past participle is formed, as in German, by the prefixing of ge- and the suffixing of -d or -t, according to the rule above, to the stem of the verb e.g. gewoond (lived), gestopt (stopped). In practice, however, both d and t in this position are pronounced as t.

Imperfect tense and past participle of strong verbs

Strong verbs, which are commonly called irregular verbs - but this is a term I prefer to avoid for reasons that will soon become clear - only emerge as different from weak verbs in the past tenses.^7. As in all Germanic languages, they form their imperfect and past participle not by the addition of a dental suffix, but by the alternation of various vowels in the stem syllable e.g. zingen (to sing)/zong (sang)/gezongen (sung). There are seven basic patterns of vowel alternation and consequently strong verbs can be grouped according to which pattern they employ. The class to which a given verb belongs was determined in history by the sounds in the word e.g. drinken/dronk/gedronken (to drink), zwemmen/zwom/gezwommen (to swim) - compare English sing/sang/sung, drink/drank/drunk and swim/swam/

7. The reason for the rather strange terminology weak and strong is explained on p. 173.

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swum where a set pattern is adhered to because the verbs in this particular group all share a common phonetic feature i.e. a nasal plus a consonant. The seven groups in Dutch are as follows:

1	bijten	beet/beten^8.	gebeten	(to bite)
2	schieten	schoot/schoten	geschoten	(to shoot)
	sluiten	sloot/sloten	gesloten	(to shut)
3	binden	bond/bonden	gebonden	(to tie, bind)
4	breken	brak/braken	gebroken	(to break)
5	eten	at/aten	gegeten	(to eat)
6	dragen	droeg/droegen	gedragen	(to wear)
7	slapen	sliep/sliepen	geslapen	(to sleep)
	hangen	hing/hingen	gehangen	(to hang)

In the imperfect there is one form for all persons of the singular and one for the plural. In groups 4 and 5 there is a distinction between the singular and the plural in the vowel of the stem, unlike in German where analogy of the singular to the plural has taken place - compare aβ/aβen (ate) where both forms contain a long vowel. German also has a separate second person singular and plural ending in the imperfect giving five different endings in all compared with only two in Dutch e.g.

Dutch:	ik	bond	wij	bonden	German:	ich	band	wir	banden
	jij	bond	jullie	bonden		du	bandst	ihr	bandet
	hij	bond	zij	bonden		er	band	sie	banden

The past participle of strong verbs always ends in -en; compare English stolen, ridden, eaten, taken etc.

8. The two forms are the singular and the plural forms respectively where the usual spelling rules have been applied.

Irregular verbs

Irregular are all those verbs that, for a variety of reasons, are not regular and yet do not follow any of the above seven patterns of the strong verb. There are (1) monosyllabic verbs e.g. staan/stond/gestaan (to stand); (2) mixed verbs i.e. verbs that were formerly strong but now have a weak imperfect e.g. bakken - bakte - gebakken (to bake, fry); (3) verbs analogous to English brought, thought etc. e.g. brengen/bracht/gebracht (to bring), denken/dacht/gedacht (to think), zoeken/zocht/gezocht (to seek).

The verb ‘to be’:

As in all European languages, the verb ‘to be’ is totally irregular:

present:	ik	ben	wij	zijn
	jij/u	bent	jullie	zijn
	hij	is	zij	zijn

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imperfect:	was/waren
past participle:	geweest i.e. a weak past part. whereas German opted for a strong one, gewesen.
imperative:	wees

It is also interesting to note that the verb ‘to be’ has two infinitives in Dutch i.e. zijn and wezen.

Modal auxiliary verbs

Dutch knows the following modal verbs, which, although also known to both English and German, often have quite different meanings from the cognate forms in those languages:

infinitive:	kunnen (to be able)	mogen (to be allowed to)	moeten (to have to)
present:	kan/kunnen	mag/mogen	moet/moeten
imperfect:	kon/konden	mocht/mochten	moest/moesten
past part.:	gekund	gemogen	gemoeten
infinitive:	willen (to want to)	zullen (will)
present:	wil/willen	zal/zullen
imperfect:	wou, wilde/wilden	zou/zouden
past part.:	gewild	gezuld

The often peculiar constituent parts of these verbs in both English and Dutch only really make sense when their history is known (see p. 180). Actually the verbs are significantly more regular in Dutch than in English. Zullen, etymologically the same word as English ‘shall’, translates English ‘will’ whereas Dutch willen corresponds to English ‘want’. Consequently zou corresponds to English ‘would’ and wou to ‘wanted’. Similarly, Dutch mocht is a cognate of English ‘might’ (originally the past tense of ‘may’) but in meaning mocht and ‘might’ now have nothing at all in common.

The past participles of modal verbs are seldom used because of the so-called double infinitive rule i.e. when a modal verb in the perfect tense is followed by an infinitive - and by virtue of modals being auxiliary verbs, this is nearly always the case - the infinitive of the modal is used rather than its past participle e.g. Ik heb haar kunnen zien - not gekund zien (I have been able to see her). This rule is known to German too but it is applied more frequently in Dutch because several other common auxiliary verbs that are not modals also require it e.g. Ik heb hem leren zwemmen (I have taught him to swim) - compare Ich habe ihn schwimmen gelernt.

Use of imperfect and perfect tenses

A part from the complexity of continuous tenses in English i.e. I am writing, he has been reading etc. which are unknown in Dutch as in other European languages, Dutch is also not as rigid in the use of its past tenses as is English. The English sentence ‘He bought a new house yesterday’ can only be expressed in the imperfect because of the presence of the adverb of time; otherwise ‘He has bought a new house’ would be correct. In Dutch such a distinction is unknown: the first example

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could be expressed in either the imperfect or the perfect tense but the latter would be more common in speech e.g. Hij kocht gisteren een nieuw huis, Hij heeft gisteren een nieuw huis gekocht. The second English example would also have to be expressed in the perfect in Dutch, however. In other words: English imperfect = Dutch imperfect or perfect, English perfect = Dutch perfect.

The tendency to speak and write in the perfect tense, which is also common in German, French and Italian^9., accounts for the frequent occurrence of the double infinitive construction mentioned above.

9. Germanic languages do not know the distinction between the imperfect on the one hand and the past historic/perfect on the other that is so integral to Latin languages.

Use of ‘to have’ and ‘to be’ as auxiliaries in the perfect tense

Dutch, like so many European languages, also uses either hebben (to have) or zijn (to be) plus the past participle to form the perfect tense of verbs, a distinction which is commonly seen as an almost insurmountable hurdle by native-speakers of English. The criteria for whether to use hebben or zijn with a Dutch verb are similar, but not identical to those in other European languages and are even somewhat different from German. What Dutch has in common with several other languages in this regard is that only intransitive verbs are conjugated with ‘to be’, but this is not to say that all intransitive verbs use zijn; all transitive verbs do, however, use ‘to have’ e.g.

ik ben gegaan	(I have gone)	- intrans.
ik heb gelachen	(I have laughed)	- intrans.
ik heb het gezien	(I have seen it)	- trans.

The usual rules of verbs of motion, those indicating a change of state etc. can be cited for Dutch too for those intransitive verbs that take zijn, but in addition Dutch knows another category that is peculiar to it alone. There is a group of verbs indicating motion, which, when indicating motion towards a certain place, always take zijn, but when the destination is not mentioned, they always take hebben e.g. rijden (to drive): ik ben vandaag naar Amsterdam gereden (I drove to Amsterdam today) ik heb vandaag veel gereden (I have driven a lot today).

Reflexive verbs

Dutch, like all other European languages, knows reflexive verbs, some of which are or can be used reflexively in English, but most of which are foreign to English. The concept in Dutch is, however, identical to that in German e.g. to wash (oneself) - (zich) wassen, to remember - zich herinneren. A reflexive verb is conjugated like any other verb but the pronouns that accompany it are as follows:

ik	was me	wij	wassen ons
jij	wast je	jullie	wassen je
u	wast u/zich
hij/zij/het	wast zich	zij	wassen zich

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The third person reflexive zich is a German loan word (see p. 172). Thepolite form of address can take either a second or a third person pronoun (see p. 171).

The compound reflexive pronoun in -zelf e.g. mezelf, zichzelf etc., is only used for extra emphasis e.g. Ik kleed eerst de kinderen aan en dan kleed ik mezelf aan (I first dress the children and then I dress myself).

Passive voice

The passive voice uses two auxiliary verbs, worden (to become) and zijn (to be), whereas German uses only the former and English only the latter. In Dutch, worden is used for the present and imperfect passive whereas zijn is used for perfect passives e.g.

pres.:	het wordt gebracht	- it is being brought	} with worden
imp.:	het werd gebracht	- it was brought
perf.:	het is gebracht	- it has been brought
plup.:	het was gebracht	- it had been brought	} with zijn
fut. perf.:	het zal gebracht zijn	- it will have been brought

The perfect passives above contrast with the English equivalents where the past participle ‘been’ must be used and with the German equivalents below where the past participle worden (with loss of ge-) must be used e.g.

es ist gebracht worden

es war gebracht worden

es wird gebracht worden sein

The rather simple construction in the perfect passive in Dutch has two interesting side effects: (a) the subtle difference between the two English sentences ‘The door is shut’ and ‘The door has been shut’ cannot be expressed in Dutch; both are translated as De deur is gesloten, where the distinction between the state and the action can only be brought out by mentioning the agent i.e. de deur is door hem gesloten - the door has been/was^10. shut by him; (b) because the passive voice is, by definition, a construction where the object of the active becomes the subject i.e. ‘I read the book’ (active) - ‘The book is read by me’ (passive), only transitive verbs can be used in the passive. Therefore, the perfect passive of a transitive verbs ends up identical in form but not in meaning to the perfect active of an intransitive verb that is conjugated with zijn e.g. Hij is gezien (He has been/was seen), Hij is gekomen (He has come/came).

10. Notice that even in the passive it is usual to use the perfect tense in Dutch (see p. 65) where in English we would normally use the imperfect.

Subjunctive

There is no longer an active subjunctive mood in Dutch; in this regard the language has undergone the same simplification as English, but in German it is still very much alive. In Dutch the present subjunctive has fallen together with the present indicative and the same has happened in the imperfect - compare:

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English: If I ate that, I would get sick.

Dutch: Als ik dat at, zou ik ziek worden.

German: Wenn ich das äβe, würde ich krank werden.

and

English: I ate it

Dutch: Ik at het

German: Ich aβ es.

But Dutch does have in common with German a periphrastic construction which replaces the imperfect subjunctive when it is considered necessary to express some doubt, although in German it is merely a modern alternative to the above e.g.

Als ik dat zou eten, zou ik ziek worden.

Wenn ich das essen würde, würde ich krank werden.

The closest equivalent in English is:

If I were to eat that I would get sick.

Otherwise subjunctives are only found in isolated expressions e.g. lang leve de koningin (long live the queen - pres. subj.), als het ware (as it were - past subj.).

Conjunctions

Dutch, like German, distinguishes between subordinating and coordinating conjunctions where the former send the finite verb of the clause to the end but the latter have no effect on word order e.g.

Ik weet dat hij morgen komt (I know he's coming tomorrow),

Ik blijf hier maar hij gaat naar huis (I'm staying here but he's going home).

Er

The word er is one of the most ubiquitous and essential little words in the Dutch language but is also one of the most enigmatic for the foreign student. The complexity of how to use it stems from its various functions; it has four in all:

1	repletive
2	locative
3	pronominal
4	partitive

Functions 1, 2 and 3 corresponds to English ‘there’, although the third function is now antiquated English e.g.

1	Er wonen veel mensen hier (There are many people living here)
2	Ik ben er nooit geweest (I have never been there)
3	Ik schreef de brief ermee (I wrote the letter therewith/with it)

Partitive er functions in a similar way to French en and means something like ‘of it/of them’ e.g.

Ik heb er tien - I have ten (of them).

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Ik heb er geen gezien - I didn't see any (of them).

It is thus closely related to pronominal er.

Bibliography

The following is a list of the most recent aids to learning Dutch apart from the audio-lingual aids mentioned in the bibliography to chapter 5.

SHETTER, W. Introduction to Dutch. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1981. In my opinion this is still the most palatable introduction to the Dutch language that has yet appeared in any language. It has gone through four editions since 1958 and a fifth, fully revised edition is in preparation. It contains self-correcting exercises and an excellent basic vocabulary.

SMIT, J & MEIJER, R. Dutch grammar and reader. Stanley Thornes. Cheltenham, 1976. This book has in fact also been around since 1958, when it was first published by the Melbourne University Press. As a grammar it is rather dry, but useful; its greatest strength lies in the excellent graded reading passages and the many passages for translation into Dutch are also very useful.

WILLIAMS, G.K. A Dutch reader. Stanley Thornes, Cheltenham, 1981. A delightful recent publication that finally offers a sequel to the passages in Smit and Meijer.

SCHOENMAKERS, A. Praatpaal. Stanley Thornes, Cheltenham, 1981. A pleasant, up to date course that has opted more for the direct approach,avoiding formal grammar as much as possible.

KOOLHOVEN, H. Teach yourself Dutch. EUP, London, 1941. Because this series is so well known and so readily available, many people are tempted to begin with this book. In my opinion it has had its day, but it does have the advantage of offering answers to the exercises.

DONALDSON, B.C. Dutch reference grammar. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1981. The only formal grammar book that can act as a sequel to any of the above. Also useful for those who are beginners but wish to dispense with exercises, reading passages etc.

DONALDSON, B.C. A Dutch vocabulary. Australasian Educa Press, Melbourne, 1983. Some 3,000 basic Dutch words with which to expand one's active vocabulary which are grouped under broad subject headings and further divided into groups of ± 10 words for easy learning.

For dictionaries see the bibliography to chapter 8.