Reflexive Verbs in Dutch


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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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