Editing Dutch grammar (section)

===Personal pronouns===
As in English, Dutch personal pronouns still retain a distinction in case: the [[Nominative case|nominative]] (subjective), [[Genitive case|genitive]] (≈ possessive) and [[Accusative case|accusative]]/[[Dative case|dative]] (objective). A distinction was once prescribed between the accusative 3rd person plural pronoun {{lang|nl|hen}}  and the dative {{lang|nl|hun}}, but it was artificial and both forms are in practice variants of the same word. These two cases are still sometimes taught to students, and may be used in formal Dutch, but no distinction is made in the everyday spoken language.

Like many other European languages, Dutch has a [[T-V distinction]] in its personal pronouns. The second-person pronouns, which are used to refer to the listener, exist in informal and formal varieties. However, because of the relatively complex and dialect-specific way in which the pronouns developed, this is less straightforward than it is in for example French or German. The [[old Germanic]]/[[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] second-person singular pronoun {{lang|nl|du}} / {{lang|nl|doe}} (English {{lang|en|thou}}) fell out of use in Dutch during the [[Middle Ages]], while it remained in use in the closely related [[Limburgish language|Limburgish]] and in neighboring [[Low German]], [[West Frisian language|West Frisian]] and [[German language|German]] languages. The role of the old singular pronoun was taken over by the old plural form, which differed slightly depending on dialect: {{lang|nl|gij}} in the South, {{lang|nl|jij}} in the North. This development also happened in English, which once had a T-V distinction but then lost it when the old informal pronoun {{lang|en|thou}} was lost. In Dutch, however, further changes occurred, and the North and South developed differently:

* In the North and in the standard language, a new formal pronoun {{lang|nl|u}} was introduced, which made {{lang|nl|jij}} distinctly informal. A new second-person plural pronoun was created by adding {{lang|nl|lie(den)}} "people" to the old singular (compare English {{lang|nl|[[y'all]]}}). This created {{lang|nl|jullie}}, an informal pronoun when speaking to many people. The formal pronoun {{lang|nl|u}} is used for both singular and plural.
* In many Southern dialects, the older situation remained, and {{lang|nl|gij}} is still a neutral way to speak to a person in those dialects. However, informal {{lang|nl|jij}} and formal {{lang|nl|u}} are commonly used in the standard language of the South, like in the North.
* Many dialects created their own plural forms of pronouns, such as {{lang|nl|gijlie}} or similar in the South for the second person plural, and also {{lang|nl|hullie}} for the third person plural ("they"), which later became a standard in [[Afrikaans]]. These forms are not part of standard Dutch.

Many pronouns can occur in a stressed form and an unstressed (clitic) form. The stressed form retains the original full vowel, and is used when particular emphasis or contrast is needed. The unstressed form normally replaces the vowel with a schwa {{IPA|/ə/}} and is used in other cases. The unstressed forms are shown in brackets; those spelled with an apostrophe or hyphen are not used often in formal written text, and are used mainly in informal speech.

{| class="wikitable"
! [[Grammatical person|person]] !! [[subject (grammar)|subject]] !! [[object (grammar)|object]]
|-
| 1st person singular || ik ('k) || mij (me)
|-
| 2nd person singular, informal || jij (je) || jou (je)
|-
| 2nd person singular, formal || u || u
|-
| 2nd person singular, Southern || gij (ge) || u
|-
| 3rd person singular, masculine || hij ({{not a typo|-ie}}) || hem ('m)
|-
| 3rd person singular, feminine || zij (ze) || haar ('r, d'r)
|-
| 3rd person singular, neuter || het ('t) || het ('t)
|-
! colspan="3" |
|-
| 1st person plural || wij (we) || ons
|-
| 2nd person plural, informal || jullie (je) || jullie (je)
|-
| 2nd person plural, formal || u || u
|-
| 2nd person plural, Southern || gij (ge) || u
|-
| 3rd person plural, for a person || zij (ze) || hun, hen (ze)
|-
| 3rd person plural, for an object || zij (ze) || die (ze)
|}

In addition to {{lang|nl|hij}}, {{lang|nl|zij}}, and {{lang|nl|het}} having unstressed counterparts, they are themselves in a technical way unstressed forms of the demonstrative pronouns; {{lang|nl|het}} is an unstressed form of {{lang|nl|dat}}, while the rest are a form of {{lang|nl|die}}. It is formal and normal to replace these personal pronouns with demonstrative pronouns.

* {{lang|nl|'''Die''' houdt van melk.}} (He/she likes milk.)
* {{lang|nl|'''Dat''' is zeer snel.}} (It is very fast.)

The pronouns are the only place in the standard language where the difference between masculine and feminine gender is significant. Consequently, the usage of the pronouns differs depending on how many genders are distinguished by a speaker. Speakers in the North will use feminine pronouns for female people, and the masculine pronouns for male people and for common-gender (masculine or feminine) nouns. In the South, the feminine pronouns are used for feminine nouns and the masculine pronouns are used for masculine nouns. See [[Gender in Dutch grammar]] for more details.

The standard language prescribes that in the third person plural, {{lang|nl|hen}} is accusative and is to be used for the direct object, and {{lang|nl|hun}} is dative, and is for the indirect object. This distinction was artificially introduced in the 17th century, and is largely ignored in spoken language and not well understood by Dutch speakers. Consequently, the third person plural forms {{lang|nl|hun}} and {{lang|nl|hen}} are interchangeable in normal usage, with {{lang|nl|hun}} being more common. The shared unstressed form {{lang|nl|ze}} is also often used as both direct and indirect objects and is a useful avoidance strategy when people are unsure which form to use.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.onzetaal.nl/advies/hunhen.php |title=Hun of hen? |language=nl |access-date=2007-05-23 |work=Onze Taal Taaladviesdienst |archive-date=2007-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070606193859/http://www.onzetaal.nl/advies/hunhen.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the West and among younger speakers, in informal spoken language, {{lang|nl|hun}} is also used as a subject pronoun by some. This is considered heavily stigmatised and substandard.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://onzetaal.nl/taaladvies/hun-hebben-zij-hebben |title=hun hebben / zij hebben |access-date=2020-11-11 |work=Onze Taal Taaladviesdienst}}</ref>