--- title: "Dutch in the Netherlands and in Flanders" level: B2 chapter: "Style and register" canonical: https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/dutch-and-flemish updated: 2026-10-09 author: Dutch Fluency license: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) --- # Dutch in the Netherlands and in Flanders Dutch in the Netherlands and Dutch in Flanders are one language, with the same spelling and almost all the same grammar. The differences are like those between British and American English: accent, some words and a few habits of informal speech. Both are correct Dutch, so the standard you learn in Utrecht also works in Ghent. ## The pattern > Standard Dutch is shared by both countries. Flemish informal speech adds its own word for you, a different diminutive and some typical words, and you mainly need to recognise them. - **You**: in casual speech, many Flemish speakers say _ge_ or the stronger _gij_ instead of _je_ and _jij_, for one person or a group. The object form is _u_ and the word for your is _uw_, as with polite [u](https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/u-or-jij). - **Small things**: next to the usual [diminutive](https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/diminutives) (the "little" form of a noun) with _-je_, Flemish speech uses _-ke_: _een manneke_, _een boekske_. Parts of the southern Netherlands use it too. - **Things as she**: Flemish speakers often use _ze_ (stressed: _zij_) and _haar_ for de-words that dictionaries mark as feminine, such as _de deur_, _de soep_ and nouns ending in _-ing_. In the Netherlands, de-words that are things usually get [hij and hem](https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/it-for-things). - **Words**: some Belgian words are standard there, like _de gsm_ (in the Netherlands _de mobiel_). Others, like _goesting_ (_zin_: desire), _amai_ (wow) and _allez_ (come on), belong to informal speech. - **Writing**: in formal writing, people in Flanders use _je_, _jij_, _u_ and _-je_, just like people in the Netherlands. ## Examples | **Heb je** zaterdag tijd om me te helpen met verhuizen? | Do you have time on Saturday to help me move? (Netherlands) | | **Hebt ge** zaterdag tijd om me te helpen met verhuizen? | Do you have time on Saturday to help me move? (Flanders) | | Waar is de afstandsbediening? Ik kan **hem** nergens vinden. | Where is the remote? I can't find it anywhere. (Netherlands) | | Waar is de afstandsbediening? Ik kan **ze** nergens vinden. | Where is the remote? I can't find it anywhere. (Flanders) | | Ik heb echt geen **goesting** om vanavond nog te koken. | I really don't feel like cooking tonight. (Flanders) | | **Amai**, de trein naar Antwerpen zit weer helemaal vol! | Wow, the train to Antwerp is completely full again! (Flanders) | | **Allez**, Yara, we gaan, anders missen we de bus! | Come on, Yara, let's go, or we'll miss the bus! (Flanders) | | Wat een lief **manneke**! Hoe oud is hij? | What a sweet little boy! How old is he? (Flanders) | | **Ik zie u graag**, dat weet ge toch? | I love you, you know that, right? (Flanders) | ## Why it works this way _Gij_ is not a strange extra word. It is the old Dutch word for you. In the Netherlands, _jij_ and _je_ took over in everyday speech, while _u_ and _uw_ live on in the polite forms. Flemish speech kept the whole set for daily use: _gij_ or _ge_ as subject, _u_ as object, _uw_ for your. That makes much of the grammar familiar. In the present tense, _gij_ usually takes the same verb form as polite _u_: _Hebt u tijd?_ becomes _Hebt ge tijd?_ and _Komt u ook?_ becomes _Komt gij ook?_ The _-t_ stays, also when the verb comes first. This differs from _jij_, which loses its _-t_ after the verb ([Werk jij?](https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/jij-inversion)). A few irregular verbs have their own _gij_ form: _u bent_ but _gij zijt_, _u mag_ but _gij moogt_. The past tense can differ too: _u was_ but _gij waart_. Like English you, _gij_ works for one person or a whole group. The _ze_ for _de deur_ has a similar logic. Dutch dictionaries still mark many de-words as masculine or feminine. Most speakers in the Netherlands no longer hear that difference for things, so _de deur_ and _de stoel_ both become _hij_. Many Flemish speakers still feel it: _de deur_ is _ze_, _de stoel_ is _hij_. If you live in the Netherlands, you mainly need to recognise these forms. In Flanders, using them in casual talk sounds natural, but keep _je_, _jij_ and _u_ for anything formal. Remember: in the present tense, _gij_ usually copies _u_. Keep the _-t_, use _u_ and _uw_, and learn the odd ones out: _gij zijt_ and _gij moogt_. ## Watch out - Not: _Heb ge vanavond tijd?_ Say: _Hebt ge vanavond tijd?_ (in the present tense, the verb keeps its _-t_ with _ge_ and _gij_, even when it comes first) - Not: _Waar hebt ge jouw auto geparkeerd?_ Say: _Waar hebt ge uw auto geparkeerd?_ (the word for your that goes with _ge_ is _uw_) - Not: _Jij zijt altijd zo vroeg op kantoor._ Say: _Jij bent altijd zo vroeg op kantoor._ (_zijt_ is the _gij_ form; with _jij_ it is _bent_) - Not: _De afstandsbediening? Ik kan het niet vinden._ Say: _De afstandsbediening? Ik kan hem niet vinden._ (a de-word thing is _hem_ in the Netherlands and often _ze_ in Flanders, not _het_) ## Quick check 1. Fill in the right form of _gaan_ (Flemish speech): _... ge morgen ook naar de vergadering?_ 2. Choose the form that goes with _ge_: _Ge hebt gelijk, ik bel (jou / u) morgen terug._ 3. Choose the word someone in the Netherlands would use instead of _goesting_: _Ik heb geen (zin / tijd) om te koken._ 4. Choose (Sanne lives in Utrecht): _Mijn fiets is gestolen en ik had (hem / het) pas een week._ ## Answers 1. _Gaat_: in the present tense, the verb keeps its _-t_ with _ge_, also at the start of a question. 2. _u_: the object form that belongs to _ge_ and _gij_ is _u_. 3. _zin_: _goesting_ means desire, which is _zin_ in the Netherlands. 4. _hem_: _de fiets_ is a de-word thing, so in the Netherlands it is _hem_. ## Use it today Watch ten minutes of a Flemish TV series or podcast and write down every _ge_, _gij_, _amai_ and word ending in _-ke_ you hear. Then rewrite two of those sentences the way Daan from Amsterdam would say them. ## Questions learners ask **Is Flemish a different language from Dutch?** No. Flemish is the Dutch spoken in Flanders, and it shares its spelling and almost all of its grammar with the Dutch of the Netherlands. The differences are mainly accent, some words and a few habits of informal speech. **What do ge and gij mean in Flemish?** Ge and gij mean you, for one person or a group, in informal Flemish speech. They use u as the object form and uw for your, and in the present tense the verb usually has the same form as with u, as in Hebt ge tijd? A few verbs differ, such as gij zijt and gij moogt. **What do goesting, amai and allez mean?** They are informal Flemish words. Goesting means desire (zin in the Netherlands), amai is a cry of surprise like wow, and allez means come on or well. From the Dutch Fluency Grammar: https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.