The Dutch word 'er' explained: all its uses

Few Dutch words are as small, as frequent and as slippery as er. It appears in almost every conversation, yet English has no single word that matches it. Sometimes it means "there", sometimes "of them", sometimes "it", and sometimes it means nothing at all and simply holds a place in the sentence. The good news: er has a limited number of jobs. Once you can recognise each one, it stops being mysterious.

1. Er as an unstressed "there" (place)

The most concrete use is pointing back to a place that has already been mentioned. Here er is the unstressed version of daar ("there").

• Woon je in Utrecht? Ja, ik woon er al vijf jaar. — Do you live in Utrecht? Yes, I've lived there for five years.
• Ben je in Gent geweest? Ja, ik ben er vorig jaar geweest. — Have you been to Ghent? Yes, I was there last year.
• Ken je café De Zwaan? Ja, ik kom er vaak. — Do you know café De Zwaan? Yes, I go there often.

If you want to stress the place, use daar, often at the start of the sentence: Daar woon ik al vijf jaar. — That's where I've lived for five years.

2. Er is, er zijn (existential "there is / there are")

This is the use you meet first. Dutch uses er to introduce something new and indefinite, just like English "there is / there are".

• Er is een probleem. — There is a problem.
• Er zijn veel fietsen in Amsterdam. — There are a lot of bikes in Amsterdam.
• Is er nog koffie? — Is there any coffee left?

Two things to notice:

• Dutch often uses other verbs than zijn. Where English says "there is", Dutch likes a verb of position: Er staat een man voor de deur. — There's a man at the door. Er ligt een boek op tafel. — There's a book on the table. Er loopt een kat in de tuin. — There's a cat walking in the garden.
• It only works with an indefinite subject. You say Er staat een fiets in de gang (a bike), but De fiets staat in de gang (the bike) — no er there.

3. Er with numbers and quantities ("of them")

When you mention a number or quantity without repeating the noun, Dutch needs er. English simply leaves the noun out ("I have three"), but in Dutch that sounds incomplete.

• Hoeveel kinderen heb je? Ik heb er drie. — How many children do you have? I have three.
• Wil je een koekje? Nee, ik heb er al twee gehad. — Do you want a biscuit? No, I've already had two.
• Heb je nog postzegels? Ja, ik heb er nog een paar. — Do you have any stamps left? Yes, I still have a few.
• Ik heb er geen. — I don't have any.

This also works with veel, weinig, een paar, geen and een: Ik heb er een gekocht. — I bought one.

Forgetting this er is one of the most common mistakes learners make (see common mistakes).

4. Er with prepositions (erop, ermee, eraan)

Dutch does not normally say "on it" or "with it" as op het or met het when it refers to a thing. Instead it combines er with the preposition: erop, eraan, ervan, erin, erover. Two prepositions change form: met becomes mee (ermee), and tot becomes toe (ertoe).

The split form

Here's the part that surprises learners: er and the preposition are often separated. Er stays near the front, after the conjugated verb, and the preposition moves towards the end of the sentence, before any infinitive or participle.

• Ik denk er vaak aan. — I often think about it.
• Ik heb er geen zin in. — I don't feel like it.
• We hebben er gisteren lang over gepraat. — We talked about it for a long time yesterday.
• Ik kan er niets aan doen. — I can't help it.

Whenever there are words like vaak, niet, geen or an object between them, the split form is the normal one.

Only for things, not people

This er + preposition construction refers to things and ideas. For people, use the preposition with a personal pronoun:

• Ik denk aan mijn moeder. Ik denk vaak aan haar. — I think of my mother. I often think of her.
• Ik denk aan de vakantie. Ik denk er vaak aan. — I think of the holiday. I often think about it.

For emphasis, swap er for daar: Daar heb ik geen zin in! — I really don't feel like that! For "this", use hier: Wat vind je hiervan? — What do you think of this?

5. Er in a passive without a subject

Dutch can make a passive sentence about an activity without saying who does it, and without any subject at all. Er fills the empty first position.

• Er wordt gedanst. — There's dancing. / People are dancing.
• Er wordt hier niet gerookt. — There's no smoking here.
• Er werd aangebeld. — Someone rang the doorbell.
• Er wordt een nieuw huis gebouwd. — A new house is being built.

The last example has a subject (een nieuw huis), but because it is indefinite, Dutch still prefers to start with er — exactly like the existential use. You can read more in the lesson on the passive.

Where does er go in the sentence?

Er is unstressed, so it likes to sit early in the sentence:

• Main clause: directly after the conjugated verb, or right after the subject if the subject comes after the verb. Gisteren was er een feest. — There was a party yesterday. Ik heb er drie. — I have three.
• Subordinate clause: right after the subject. Ik weet dat er een probleem is. — I know there's a problem. Hij zegt dat hij er vaak aan denkt. — He says he often thinks about it.
• Pronouns go first: unstressed pronouns like het come before er. Ik heb het er met hem over gehad. — I talked to him about it.

One more twist: when two uses meet in one sentence, you will sometimes hear two of them, as in Er liggen er nog twee in de kast. — There are two more in the cupboard (existential + quantity). You don't need to produce that yet, but now you'll recognise it.

For more on general word order, see Dutch word order.

Quick summary

• Place: Ik woon er al jaren. — unstressed "there".
• Existential: Er is / er zijn, often with staan, liggen, zitten, only with indefinite subjects.
• Quantity: Ik heb er drie. — needed whenever the noun is left out after a number or quantity.
• With prepositions: erop, eraan, ermee; often split: Ik denk er vaak aan. Only for things, not people.
• Passive without subject: Er wordt gedanst.
• Position: early in the sentence, right after the verb or subject.

Practise it

Put er into practice with the lesson The word "er", which drills all five uses with exercises. Then see it in action in the passive and talk about where you live in At home, where Ik woon er al… comes in handy.