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In our previous lesson we have obtained a lot of information about Dutch verbs. However, we have not yet found the time to discuss reflexive verbs. That we will do now.
Reflexive Verbs
Reflexive verbs are accompanied by a so-called reflexive pronoun. The following table illustrates the reflexive verb “to wash oneself” and the Dutch equivalent “zich wassen”. Note that in these infinitive verbs forms, we can already note the reflexive pronoun “zich” (“oneself”)
| Ik was me | I wash myself |
| Jij wast je | You wash yourself |
| Hij wast zich | He washes himself |
| Zij wast zich | She washes herself |
| Wij wassen ons | We wash ourselves |
| Jullie wassen je | You wash yourselves |
| Zij wassen zich | They wash themselves |
Every Dutch reflexive pronoun can also be found with the suffix “-zelf” which will make them resemble the English form more.
Gerunds
In English, we are all familiar with the continuous tense, better known as the “-ing” tense. In Dutch you will find this less, but it does exist. While in English we use “to be +ing”, the Dutch use “zijn aan het +infinitive”. Consider the following example:
| Ik ben aan het lopen | I am walking |
| Jij bent aan het lopen | You are walking |
| Hij/zij is aan het lopen | He/she is walking |
| Wij zijn aan het lopen | We are walking |
| Jullie zijn aan het lopen | You are walking |
| Zij zijn aan het lopen | They are walking |
Do not forget though, that this is used far less than in English, so you shouldn’t substitute every English continuous tense with this Dutch construction. Instead, the Dutch present tense usually suffices.
Degrees of Comparison
Adjectives and adverbs can be modified according to degrees of comparison to their meaning BIGGER or BIGGEST. In English we obtain sets of three like: “late – later – latest”. In Dutch this is exactly the same: “laat – later – laatst”. There is no difference whatsoever.
And the analogy goes further. We can say “the latest” in English. In Dutch we get: “het laatst” and when we are using it adjectively we have to make it agree with the noun gender and number, so the article can change and the adjective can get an extra E as the following table illustrates:
| Het laatste uur | The latest hour |
| De laatste minuut | The latest minute |
| De laatste uren | The latest hours |
When used as an adverb we don’t need the extra E but we can’t omit the article as in English.
| Ik kom het laatst | I come [the] latest |
Now we will take a look at comparisons of inequality and later we will discuss comparisons of equality. The sentence below illustrates a comparison of inequality:
| Ik ben groter dan jij | I am bigger than you |
| Hij is kleiner dan wij | He is smaller than we |
And an example of comparisons of equality:
| Ik ben even groot als jij | I am as big as you |
| Hij is even klein als wij | He is as small as we |
An alternative way of saying this is possible too:
| Ik ben net zo groot als jij | I am [just] as big as you |
| Hij is net zo klein als wij | He is [just] as small as we |
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