hij

Afrikaans

Pronoun

hij

1. obsolete spelling of hy

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch hi, from Old Dutch hie, hē, from Proto-West Germanic *hiʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hiz. Doublet of ie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɦɛi̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hij
• Rhymes: -ɛi̯
• Homophone: hei

Pronoun

hij

1. he; third-person singular masculine subjective personal pronoun

   Hij loopt. ― He walks.

   De stoel is duur omdat hij van glas is gemaakt.

   The stool is deer for it is made of glass.

Usage notes

• When the word occurs other than as the first word of a clause and is not emphatically stressed, it is usually pronounced as /i/. This is a completely accepted pronunciation in standard speech.
• The word can also be used to refer to inanimate nouns of the feminine gender.

Declension

Dutch personal pronouns

	subject		object		possessive			reflexive	genitive5
singular	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	pred.
1st person	ik	'k1	mij	me	mijn	m'n1	mijne	me	mijner, mijns
2nd person	jij	je	jou	je	jouw	je	jouwe	je	jouwer, jouws
2nd person archaic or regiolectal	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer, uws
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u, zich7	uwer, uws
3rd person masculine	hij	ie1	hem	'm1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner, zijns
3rd person feminine	zij	ze	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	hare	zich	harer, haars
3rd person neuter	het	't1	het	't1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner, zijns
3rd person gender-neutral8	hen	–	hen	–	hun	–	hunne	zich	hunner, huns
plural
1st person	wij	we	ons	–	ons, onze2	–	onze	ons	onzer, onzes
2nd person	jullie	je	jullie	je	jullie	je	–	je	–
2nd person archaic or regiolectal6	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer, uws
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u, zich7	uwer, uws
3rd person	zij	ze	hen3, hun4	ze	hun	–	hunne	zich	hunner, huns
1) Not as common in written language. 2) Inflected as an adjective. 3) In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). 4) In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative). 5) Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. 6) To differentiate from the singular gij, gelle (object form elle) and variants are commonly used colloquially in Belgium. Archaic forms are gijlieden and gijlui ("you people").				7) Zich is preferred if the reflexive pronoun immediately follows the subject pronoun u, e.g. Meldt u zich aan! 'Log in!', and if the subject pronoun u is used with a verb form that is identical with the third person singular but different from the informal second person singular, e.g. U heeft zich aangemeld. 'You have logged in.' Only u can be used in an imperative if the subject pronoun is not overt, e.g. Meld u aan! 'Log in!', where u is the reflexive pronoun. Otherwise, both u and zich are equally possible, e.g. U meldt u/zich aan. 'You log in.' 8) Not officially recognized in standard Dutch. It has gained popularity, especially in mainstream media and queer circles, as a respectful term for non-binary individuals.

Derived terms

• hijzelf

Descendants

• Afrikaans: hy
• Javindo: hij, gij
• Jersey Dutch: hai, he
• Petjo: hij

Middle Dutch

Pronoun

hij

1. alternative spelling of hi

Middle English

Etymology 1

Pronoun

hij

1. alternative form of I (“I”)

Etymology 2

Pronoun

hij

1. alternative form of he (“they”)