---
title: "Male and female forms: leraar and lerares"
level: B1
chapter: "Nouns and de or het"
canonical: https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/male-female-forms
updated: 2026-10-08
author: Dutch Fluency
license: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
---

# Male and female forms: leraar and lerares

To talk about a woman, Dutch often adds an ending to the general word: _leraar_ becomes _lerares_, _vriend_ becomes _vriendin_. For jobs, though, many people now use one word for everyone, so _Zij is leraar_ is perfectly normal. Both forms take _de_: _de leraar_, _de lerares_.

## The pattern

> A woman can get her own word with _-es_, _-in_, _-ster_ or _-e_, but for jobs many people now use one form for everyone. Both forms take _de_.

- _-es_: _leraar_ / _lerares_, _zanger_ / _zangeres_, _prins_ / _prinses_
- _-in_: _vriend_ / _vriendin_, _boer_ / _boerin_, _koning_ / _koningin_
- _-ster_: mainly for _-er_ words made from a verb (see [Making nouns from verbs and adjectives](https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/nouns-from-verbs)). Add _-ster_ to the verb stem (the _ik_ form): _schrijver_ / _schrijfster_, _verkoper_ / _verkoopster_, _kapper_ / _kapster_. Many verb words do this, but not all: _zanger_ takes _-es_.
- _-e_: mainly words ending in _-ent_ or _-aat_: _student_ / _studente_, _assistent_ / _assistente_, _kandidaat_ / _kandidate_
- Some pairs are separate words or come from French: _buurman_ / _buurvrouw_, _acteur_ / _actrice_, _directeur_ / _directrice_
- Plurals follow the normal rules: _leraressen_, _vriendinnen_, _schrijfsters_, _studentes_
- The female forms with these endings take _de_: _de lerares_, _de vriendin_, _de schrijfster_, _de studente_

The ending is not fully predictable, so learn the female form together with the word, just as you learn its article.

## Examples

| Mijn **lerares** Nederlands vraagt altijd hoe mijn weekend was. | My Dutch teacher always asks how my weekend was. |
| Fatima is **leraar** op een basisschool, net als haar moeder. | Fatima is a teacher at a primary school, just like her mother. |
| Mei gaat zaterdag met een **vriendin** naar de markt. | Mei is going to the market with a friend on Saturday. |
| De **schrijfster** van dat boek woont bij ons in de straat. | The author of that book lives in our street. |
| Toen Priya **studente** was, woonde ze op kamers in Groningen. | When Priya was a student, she rented a room in Groningen. |
| De **verkoopster** vroeg of ik een tasje nodig had. | The shop assistant asked if I needed a bag. |
| Onze **buurvrouw** geeft de kat eten als wij op vakantie zijn. | Our neighbour feeds the cat when we are on holiday. |
| Sanne is net gekozen tot **voorzitter** van de voetbalclub. | Sanne has just been elected chair of the football club. |
| Yara wil **huisarts** worden, omdat ze graag met mensen werkt. | Yara wants to become a GP because she likes working with people. |

## Why it works this way

Think of the general word as the name of the job, and the ending as a small label that adds: this person is a woman. When that does not matter, many speakers leave the label off. So _Fatima is lerares_ and _Fatima is leraar_ are both correct and mean the same. Both are common in everyday speech; the general form is especially common in job ads, contracts and the news. With _burgemeester_, _hoogleraar_ or _huisarts_, the general form is the normal word for women anyway.

Outside work, the female form is usually the normal choice: a female friend is normally _een vriendin_, and a female monarch is _de koningin_. Some neutral words do exist, such as _de buur_ for a neighbour of any gender, but most people in the Netherlands still say _buurman_ or _buurvrouw_. And the general form covers mixed groups: _de leraren_ can be men, women or both.

English has the same idea: waitress, actress, and spinster, which first meant a woman who spins. That _-ster_ is the same old ending as in _schrijfster_. English has mostly dropped these endings for jobs, and Dutch is heading the same way, just more slowly.

Why _de_? In older Dutch, most words for people were masculine or feminine, and in modern Dutch both of those genders use _de_. So most words for people are _de_-words, but not all. The main exceptions are _het kind_, _het lid_ and diminutives (the small forms with _-je_) such as _het meisje_, because a singular diminutive always takes _het_. More in [De or het: the two words for "the"](https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar/de-and-het).

Remember: the female ending changes the person, not the article: _de leraar_, _de lerares_. A diminutive ending does change it: _de vriendin_, but _het vriendinnetje_.

## Watch out

- Not: _de studentin_ Say: _de studente_ (_-in_ is the German habit; _student_ takes _-e_)
- Not: _de schrijveres_ Say: _de schrijfster_ (_schrijver_ takes _-ster_ on the stem _schrijf_, not _-es_)
- Not: _Mijn broer is verpleegster._ Say: _Mijn broer is verpleegkundige._ (_verpleegster_ is only for women; _verpleegkundige_ is for everyone)
- Not: _twee leraresen_ Say: _twee leraressen_ (the stressed short _e_ of _-es_ needs a double _s_ before _-en_)

## Quick check

1. Fill in the female form: _Mijn tante schrijft kinderboeken. Ze is een bekende ... (schrijver)._
2. Fill in the female form: _Op de bruiloft zong een ... (zanger) uit Suriname._
3. Choose _de_ or _het_: _... nieuwe verkoopster helpt me altijd bij de zelfscankassa._
4. Fix the sentence: _Ik ga vanavond met twee vriendinen naar de film._

## Answers

1. _schrijfster_: _schrijver_ takes _-ster_, added to _schrijf_, the stem of _schrijven_.
2. _zangeres_: _zanger_ takes _-es_.
3. _De_: female forms like _verkoopster_ take _de_.
4. _Ik ga vanavond met twee vriendinnen naar de film._ The stressed short _i_ in _-in_ needs a double _n_ before _-en_.

## Use it today

Think of three women you deal with this week, such as your GP, a colleague or your neighbour, and describe each one in a Dutch sentence: _Mijn buurvrouw is kapster._ For each job, decide whether you would use the female form or the general form, and say the word aloud with _de_.

## Questions learners ask

**How do you make the female form of a noun in Dutch?**

You usually add -es (lerares), -in (vriendin), -ster (schrijfster) or -e (studente) to the general word. Which ending a word takes is not fully predictable, so learn the female form together with the word.

**Can you say "zij is leraar" in Dutch?**

Yes. For jobs, many Dutch speakers use the general form for everyone, so "zij is leraar" is just as correct as "zij is lerares". In job ads, contracts and official texts the general form is especially common.

**Is it de or het lerares?**

It is de lerares. Most words for people take de, including female forms like lerares and vriendin; exceptions include het kind, het lid and singular diminutives such as het meisje.

From the Dutch Fluency Grammar: https://www.dutchfluency.com/grammar. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.