The pattern
Ons goes where het goes, and onze goes where de goes. Every plural takes de, so every plural takes onze.
- Singular het-word: het huis, so ons huis.
- Singular de-word: de auto, so onze auto.
- Any plural: de huizen, de auto's, so onze huizen, onze auto's.
- Singular diminutives (the small form of a noun, such as hondje or meisje) are het-words: ons hondje, ons meisje. Their plurals take onze: onze hondjes.
- When it means "us" on its own, it is always ons: Ze bellen ons morgen.
Examples
| Ons huis heeft een kleine tuin. | Our house has a small garden. |
| Onze straat is erg rustig. | Our street is very quiet. |
| Ons kind is vandaag ziek, dus we bellen de huisarts. | Our child is ill today, so we are calling the GP. |
| Onze kinderen fietsen elke dag naar school. | Our children cycle to school every day. |
| We hebben ons appartement zelf geschilderd. | We painted our flat ourselves. |
| Onze buurvrouw Yara heeft ons pakket aangenomen. | Our neighbour Yara took in our parcel. |
| Priya is nieuw in ons team. | Priya is new in our team. |
| Daan heeft onze hond uitgelaten. | Daan walked our dog. |
| Ons hondje slaapt in de keuken. | Our little dog sleeps in the kitchen. |
| Onze trein heeft weer vertraging. | Our train is delayed again. |
Why it works this way
Dutch nouns come in two groups, de-words and het-words (see De or het). All plurals join the de group. Ons simply follows that split, so the test is easy: say the noun with its article first. Het pakket, so ons pakket. De trein, so onze trein.
The extra -e on onze is a familiar Dutch habit. You see the same pattern after een: een klein huis against een kleine auto, and kleine huizen in the plural. The singular het-word is the odd one out, without the -e.
The good news: ons is the only possessive that changes. Mijn, jouw, zijn, haar, jullie and hun stay the same before every noun (see Possessive pronouns).
English has one word, "our", so the risk is forgetting to choose at all. German speakers have "unser" and "unsere", but German gender often differs from Dutch: German says "das Auto", Dutch says de auto. Spanish speakers can set masculine and feminine aside here. Dutch only asks de or het, which is why a girl is ons meisje.
Remember: say the noun with het or de first, then swap. Het becomes ons, de becomes onze.
If you are unsure whether a noun is de or het, onze is the safer guess, because most Dutch nouns are de-words. That is a bet, not a rule, so check the word when you can (How to actually learn de and het). To say "ours" without a noun, see Mine and yours.
Watch out
Foutonze huis
Goedons huis
it is het huis, so no -e
Foutons kinderen
Goedonze kinderen
every plural takes onze, even though it is het kind
Foutons auto
Goedonze auto
auto is a de-word in Dutch, whatever German says
Foutons nieuw huis
Goedons nieuwe huis
after ons, the adjective gets -e
FoutZe helpen onze
GoedZe helpen ons
meaning "us", it is always ons
Quick check
- Fill in ons or onze: Dit is ... buurman, Joris.
- Fill in ons or onze: ... bedrijf heeft een nieuw kantoor.
- Choose: Gisteren zijn (ons / onze) vrienden op bezoek geweest.
- Fix the sentence: Onze meisje is vandaag jarig.
Toon de antwoorden
- onze (it is de buurman)
- Ons (it is het bedrijf)
- onze (vrienden is plural)
- Ons meisje is vandaag jarig. (singular diminutives are het-words: het meisje)
Use it today
Write three sentences about your home for a new neighbour: one with ons huis or ons appartement, one with onze straat, and one with a plural such as onze buren. Say each noun with de or het first, then swap in ons or onze.