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There is a direct link between the way in which people address each other and politeness. Here we consider three aspects of this: the use of second-person pronouns, greetings and farewells, and formulas in letters.
Second-person pronouns – voornaamwoorden van de tweede persoon There are two aspect to second-person pronouns: their form and their use. Forms of second-person pronouns In standard English there is just one second-person >>personal pronoun, you, and an associated >>possessive pronoun, your. In Dutch there are three personal pronouns: singular informal, plural informal and formal (used for singular and plural), each with an associated possessive pronoun. Moreover, the singular informal pronoun has three different forms depending on whether it is used as subject or object, or whether it is stressed or unstressed. The table below sets out the various forms.
Each of these personal pronouns has its own verb forms: for jullie this is the infinitive (verb stem + en) and for u it is verb stem + t for je/jij it is also verb stem + t except in the case of inversion, when it is just the stem. Here is an example with the verb fietsen (to ride a bike):
Use of second-person pronouns Using the appropriate pronoun is important socially. There are even special verbs in Dutch for saying je and u, which have been borrowed from French: tutoyeren and vousvoyeren. The norms for using second-person pronouns in Dutch have changed a great deal over the last fifty years. There is no evidence that they are stabilising, with much uncertainty amongst native speakers as a result. However, the situation can be summarised by saying that the informal forms are used to express solidarity and the formal forms are used to express distance. Solidarity is not necessarily the same as familiarity: two teenagers may not know each other at all (familiarity), but they still feel that they have something in common (solidarity). This is why Dutch students always address each other with the informal form of address. Despite the formal differences with English second-person pronouns, the Dutch system for using them is a bit like the English address system: in English someone is addressed with their first name to express solidarity and with their title and last name to express distance. A complicating factor is the fact that the systems are not quite the same in the Netherlands and Flanders. The southern variety of standard Dutch is slightly more conservative in its use of second-person pronouns. Moreover, Flemish colloquial speech has a different formal system with only one second-person pronoun that is used in both formal and informal situations: ge (with stressed gij). However, the object form of ge/gij is u and the possessive uw.
This is particularly important for students of Dutch when visiting Flanders, because their Flemish peers have a strong preference for using the colloquial Flemish address. Greeting and farewells – groeten en afscheid nemen Different levels of formality exist when greeting people. Expressions for saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ differ depending on how polite the speaker wants to be. Even though other factors, such as regional background, gender and level of education also play a role, the following generalisation can be made:
Formulas in letters – formules in brieven When writing a letter in Dutch, there are certain ways to address the person you are writing to, and also certain ways to close the letter, depending on how polite you want to be. This also applies to emails. Below you find an overview of some of the different forms of opening and closing a letter that are available in Dutch.
The two pieces of text below are taken from a formal (on the left) and an informal letter.
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