A compendious guide to the Low-Dutch language / Korte wegwyzer der Nederduytsche taal

[p. 14]

Concerning the use of the Particles. De, Die, Deeze, Het, Dat, Dit.

WHereas the English always use the Particles The, that and this promiscuously before all Nouns, as for instance, The man, the woman, the horse, the child; That street, that colour, that field, that house; This bird, this way, this beast, this thing; for which the Dutch say, De man, de vrouw, het paerd, het kind; Die straat, die koleur, dat veld, dat huys; Deeze vogel, deeze weg, dit beest, dit ding; it seems an almost unsurmountable difficulty for the English, to learn the right use of these Particles, because there have not yet any sufficient rules been given for it. Which thô it may seem almost impossible, yet I will offer some general ones, which I do not know to have been observed by any besides my self, and may be of great advantage for the English.

First it must be observed that there are three Genders, viz. The Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter, as appears in the use of our Adjectives and Particles, for we say, Een groot man, a great man, eene groote vrouw, a great woman, een groot kind, a great child; and yet

[p. 15]

we must acknowledge, that this rule in regard of the Adjectives is defective; because we say Een goede (and not goed) Broeder a good brother, een goede Zuster a good sister, and een goed Wyf a good wife; so that oftentimes it is hard to determine whether those Nouns, that require the Particles, De, die or deeze, be of the Masculine or Feminine gender; but most certain it is, that the Nouns to which the Particles, Het, dat or dit are added, are of the Neuter gender; and therefore the final E in the Adjectives, when joined with such words, is generally rejected; for because we say Het, dat or dit Paerd, Het, dat or dit Huys, Het, dat or dit Schip, Het, dat or dit Kind, we also say Een sterk paerd, a strong horse, een hoog huys, a high house, een groot schip, a great ship, een mooi kind, a fine child, and not sterke paerd, hooge huys, groote schip, mooije kind: and because we say De, die or deeze vogel, De, die or deeze pen, we never say een snel vogel or een styf pen, but een snelle vogel a swift bird, een styve pen, a stif penn. Yet this rule admits of an exception, for we say het platte land, het groene kussen &c. And when the Adjective is placed behind a Substantive of the Feminine gender, the final e is left off, as if the Substantive was a Neuter, thus, Eene vrouw groot van vermoogen, a woman of great ability.