Dutch word formation: suffixes and prefixes explained
Learn how Dutch builds words with suffixes like -heid, -ing and -baar and prefixes like on-, be- and ver-, and use them to guess meanings and articles.
Dutch loves building new words out of old ones. Take vriend (friend): add -lijk and you get vriendelijk (friendly), add -heid to that and you get de vriendelijkheid (friendliness). Put on- in front and you have onvriendelijk (unfriendly). Once you know the most common building blocks, long words stop being scary, you can often guess what a new word means, and you even get its article for free.
Suffixes that make nouns
A suffix is a piece added to the end of a word. The nice thing about noun suffixes is that they decide the article of the new word, whatever the base word was.
-heid turns an adjective into an abstract noun, like English "-ness" or "-ity". Always de, plural -heden.
- vrij → de vrijheid — free → freedom
- gezond → de gezondheid — healthy → health
- mogelijk → de mogelijkheid — possible → possibility
-ing turns a verb into a noun for the action or its result. Always de.
- oefenen → de oefening — to practise → exercise
- vergaderen → de vergadering — to meet → meeting
- verwarmen → de verwarming — to heat → heating
-te turns an adjective into a noun, often for measurements. Always de.
- lang → de lengte — long → length
- hoog → de hoogte — high → height
- warm → de warmte — warm → warmth
-schap makes nouns for states, relationships and groups. This one is split: states and qualities are usually de, groups and positions are usually het.
- de vriendschap — friendship
- de wetenschap — science
- het landschap — landscape
- het lidmaatschap — membership
-er, -ster, -es make words for people. -er is added to a verb stem (after a stem ending in an unstressed syllable it usually becomes -aar, as in wandelen → de wandelaar; leraar is irregular); -ster and -es are feminine forms. All de.
- bakken → de bakker — to bake → baker
- schrijven → de schrijver / de schrijfster — to write → writer
- leren → de leraar / de lerares — to teach → teacher
- zingen → de zanger / de zangeres — to sing → singer
Nowadays the -er form is often used for women too, especially for jobs: Ze is schrijver. — She is a writer. -er can also make things: wekken → de wekker — to wake → alarm clock.
-je, -tje, -pje (the diminutive) make things small, cute or casual, and always give het: de kop → het kopje (cup). That's a whole topic of its own; see Dutch diminutives.
Suffixes that make adjectives
These don't affect articles, but they're everywhere.
-baar means "can be …-ed", like English "-able". It's added to a verb stem.
- drinken → drinkbaar — drinkable
- betalen → betaalbaar — affordable
- zien → zichtbaar — visible (note the irregular stem)
-lijk makes adjectives from nouns, verbs and other adjectives. The meaning varies: "-ly", "-ful", "-able".
- de vriend → vriendelijk — friendly
- het gevaar → gevaarlijk — dangerous
- begrijpen → begrijpelijk — understandable
-loos means "without", like English "-less".
- het werk → werkloos — unemployed
- het eind → eindeloos — endless
- de draad → draadloos — wireless
-ig turns a noun into an adjective, like English "-y".
- de zon → zonnig — sunny
- de honger → hongerig — hungry
- het geluk → gelukkig — happy, lucky
-isch is mostly used with international words, like English "-ic" or "-ical".
- typisch — typical
- praktisch — practical
- de toerist → toeristisch — touristic, touristy
Which article does the suffix bring?
When you see one of these endings, you can usually skip the article lookup. More patterns are in De or het?
| Suffix | Article | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -heid | de | de waarheid — truth |
| -ing | de | de woning — home |
| -te | de | de breedte — width |
| -er / -aar / -ster / -es / -in | de | de speler — player, de vriendin — female friend |
| -ij / -erij | de | de bakkerij — bakery |
| -nis | usually de | de kennis — knowledge |
| -schap | de or het | de vriendschap, het landschap |
| -isme | het | het toerisme — tourism |
| -je / -tje / -pje | het | het huisje — little house |
Note that -ing only counts as a real suffix on a verb: het ding (thing) just happens to end in -ing.
Prefixes that change meaning
A prefix goes at the front. Prefixes don't change a noun's article: het geluk → het ongeluk (accident, bad luck), de orde → de wanorde (chaos).
| Prefix | Rough meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| on- | not, un- | onmogelijk — impossible, onbekend — unknown, het ongeluk — accident |
| be- | makes a verb take a direct object | beantwoorden — to answer, beklimmen — to climb |
| ver- | change, becoming, or "wrong" | verbeteren — to improve, verhuizen — to move house, verdwalen — to get lost |
| ont- | removing, "un-", away | ontdekken — to discover, ontkoppelen — to disconnect, ontsnappen — to escape |
| her- | again, re- | herhalen — to repeat, herkennen — to recognise, herschrijven — to rewrite |
| mis- | wrong, failed | mislukken — to fail, misbruiken — to abuse, het misverstand — misunderstanding |
| wan- | bad, wrong (nouns) | de wanhoop — despair, de wanorde — chaos, het wanbeleid — mismanagement |
A few of these deserve a closer look.
be- often replaces a preposition: you antwoordt op a question, but you beantwoordt it directly.
- Ik antwoord op je vraag. — I'm answering your question.
- Ik beantwoord je vraag. — I'm answering your question.
- We klimmen op de berg. — We're climbing up the mountain.
- We beklimmen de berg. — We're climbing the mountain.
ver- with an adjective means "make or become more so": beter → verbeteren (improve), groot → vergroten (enlarge). It can also flip a meaning: kopen → verkopen (buy → sell), huren → verhuren (rent → rent out). And with zich it often means doing something wrong: zich verslapen (oversleep), zich verspreken (make a slip of the tongue).
ont- often undoes something: dekken is "to cover", so ontdekken is literally "to uncover", which became "to discover".
The verb prefixes be-, ver-, ont-, her- and mis- are normally inseparable, so the past participle has no ge-:
- Ze heeft de vraag beantwoord. — She answered the question.
- De leraar heeft het herhaald. — The teacher repeated it.
- Het plan is mislukt. — The plan failed.
There are rare exceptions, such as misgaan (to go wrong), which is separable: Het is misgegaan. — It went wrong. For the full story, read Separable or inseparable?
Using all this to guess meanings
When you meet a long word, peel it like an onion: find the core, then add the pieces one by one.
- onbereikbaar = on- + bereik(en) + -baar → not + reach + able → unreachable
- de werkloosheid = werk + -loos + -heid → work + without + -ness → unemployment
- onherkenbaar = on- + her- + ken(nen) + -baar → not + re- + know + able → unrecognisable
- de verbetering = ver- + beter + -ing → make better + -ing → improvement
- de ontevredenheid = ont- + tevreden + -heid → not + satisfied + -ness → dissatisfaction
And because the last suffix decides the article, you know straight away that werkloosheid and verbetering are de words.
Tip: Guessing works best as a first step, not a final answer. Plenty of words have drifted from their parts: bezoeken means "to visit", not "to seek", and ontbijten (to have breakfast) has nothing to do with "un-biting". Check the context, and when in doubt, check a dictionary.
Dutch also glues whole words together; see Dutch compound nouns.
Quick summary
- Noun suffixes decide the article: -heid, -ing, -te and person words in -er/-ster/-es are de; diminutives and -isme are het; -schap can be either.
- Adjective suffixes: -baar (-able), -lijk (-ly, -ful), -loos (-less), -ig (-y), -isch (-ic).
- Prefixes: on- (not), be- (direct object), ver- (change or wrong), ont- (undo), her- (again), mis- and wan- (wrong, bad).
- Prefixes don't change a noun's article.
- Verbs with be-, ver-, ont-, her-, mis- usually have no ge- in the participle: beantwoord, mislukt.
- Break long words into parts to guess meaning, but double-check, because meanings drift.
Practise it
Build and break down words in Word formation, then use suffixes to predict articles in De patterns and Het patterns. You can also drill articles in the de/het trainer.