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6
Indefinite
pronouns
46
Men mag hier niet roken. Passive: Hier mag niet gerookt worden.
Men zegt dat Napoleon hier Passive: Er wordt gezegd dat
geslapen heeft. Napoleon hier geslapen heeft.
The pronoun men is primarily used in formal speech. In less formal
speech, Dutch uses the pronouns je, ze and we. While men can only be
used in the subject position in the sentence, je can take both the subject
and object positions. Examples:
In dat restaurant kun je heerlijk eten.
One can have delicious meals in that restaurant.
Als je (subject) een beetje extra betaalt, laat een gids je (object) de hele
stad zien.
If you pay a little extra, a guide will show you the whole city.
A sentence with indefinite je includes the speaker and the listener and
is therefore more personal. However, using indefinite je is not always
possible. In some contexts, indefinite je could create confusion with the
personal pronoun je. Compare:
Men zegt dat er een hittegolf komt.
They say there is going to be a heatwave.
Je zegt dat er een hittegolf komt. – This would be incorrect.
In such contexts, men can always be replaced with the more informal ze.
Example:
Ze zeggen dat er een hittegolf komt.
They say there is going to be a heatwave.
The other more personal form that includes the speaker and the listener is
we. Compare the following sentences that could be found in a grammar book:
Hier gebruikt men het bepaald lidwoord.
Here, the definite article is used.
Hier gebruiken we het bepaald lidwoord.
Here, we use the definite article.
Essentially, the two sentences mean the same, but the sentence with
we is more informal, more personal. The same can be said for the more
informal form ze. It doesn’t include speaker and listener, but it is much
more common than men. Compare: