The pattern
When you add -e, keep the vowel sound the same. Write aa, ee, oo or uu with one letter if its syllable becomes open, and double a consonant only when it is the single consonant after a short stressed vowel.
- Long vowel that ends up at the end of a syllable: groot, grote; laag, lage; geel, gele; duur, dure.
- Short stressed vowel plus one consonant: dik, dikke; wit, witte; snel, snelle.
- Two or more consonants at the end: no doubling, and the vowel keeps its spelling: zacht, zachte; sterk, sterke; paars, paarse.
- Directly after a long vowel, ie or ij, f usually becomes v and s usually becomes z: lief, lieve; vies, vieze; boos, boze; actief, actieve.
- Unstressed -en: no -e and no change: open, eigen, gouden, houten, tevreden.
- Many others simply add -e: mooi, mooie; aardig, aardige.
Examples
| Sanne woont in een grote stad. | Sanne lives in a big city. |
| Daan draagt een dikke jas. | Daan is wearing a thick coat. |
| Joris koopt de witte fiets. | Joris is buying the white bike. |
| Wat een lieve buurvrouw! | What a sweet neighbour! |
| Lotte, je hebt vieze schoenen aan. | Lotte, you're wearing dirty shoes. |
| Wat een grijze dag vandaag! | What a grey day today! |
| Ahmed koopt paarse sokken. | Ahmed is buying purple socks. |
| We hebben de aardige buren uitgenodigd. | We have invited the nice neighbours. |
| Mei zit bij het open raam. | Mei is sitting by the open window. |
| Carlos heeft een gouden ring gekocht. | Carlos has bought a gold ring. |
Why it works this way
Dutch spelling shows vowel length through syllables. In groot the syllable is closed (it ends in a consonant), so the long vowel needs two letters, or you would read grot (cave). Add -e and the word splits into gro-te. Now the syllable is open (it ends in a vowel), and a single vowel there already sounds long. This works in unstressed syllables too: langzaam, langzame. With two consonants, one stays behind, so the syllable stays closed and paars keeps its aa: paar-se.
A short vowel has the opposite problem: nat plus -e written as nate would sound like a long aa. Doubling gives nat-te, and the first t keeps the vowel short. English does something similar with "big" and "bigger". If the word already ends in two consonants, one stays behind anyway, so nothing doubles: zach-te. There is no doubling after the neutral e sound (a short, relaxed "uh") either, as in the ending -ig: aardig, aardige. More in open and closed syllables.
The v and z follow sound. Dutch words normally do not end in a v or z sound, so you write lief and vies. Between two vowels the softer sound appears, and the spelling shows it, just like huis, huizen (see v and f, z and s). This is a strong tendency, not a law. After a consonant the s usually stays: Frans, Franse; vals, valse. Some nationality words keep it too: Chinees, Chinese. After a short vowel the consonant usually doubles instead: fris, frisse; laf, laffe. One well-known exception is grof (rough), which becomes grove.
Adjectives in unstressed -en already end in a weak syllable with the neutral e sound. They take no -e, so there is nothing to respell: de open deur, een tevreden klant. Groen is different: its e belongs to oe and the syllable is stressed, so you get de groene deur.
No -e, no change: in een dik boek or De jas is dik the adjective stays bare. See Adjective endings and adjectives after _zijn_, _worden_ and _blijven_.
Remember: the -e pulls one consonant into the next syllable. If that leaves a long vowel at the end of a syllable, one letter will do (gro-te). If it would leave a short stressed vowel with no consonant behind it, write that one consonant twice: one stays, one moves on (dik-ke). With two consonants, one stays behind anyway, so nothing changes (zach-te, paar-se).
Watch out
Falscheen groote stad
Richtigeen grote stad
the o ends the syllable, so one o is enough
Falscheen dike jas
Richtigeen dikke jas
short stressed i plus one k, so double the k
Falscheen liefe buurvrouw
Richtigeen lieve buurvrouw
after ie, the f becomes v
Falscheen bose klant
Richtigeen boze klant
after a long vowel, the s usually becomes z
Falschde opene deur
Richtigde open deur
unstressed -en takes no -e
Quick check
- Fill in the right form of duur: Priya koopt een ... tas.
- Choose dune or dunne: Daan heeft een ... trui aan.
- Fill in the right form of lief: Emma heeft een ... kat.
- Fix the sentence: Yara koopt een houtene tafel.
Antworten zeigen
- dure: the u ends the syllable (du-re), so one u is enough.
- dunne: short stressed u plus one n, so double the n.
- lieve: after ie, the f becomes v.
- Yara koopt een houten tafel. Unstressed -en gets no -e.
Use it today
Write today's shopping list with five adjectives that get -e, like witte bonen, grote eieren or rode paprika's. Check each spelling against the pattern before you cycle to the supermarket.