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Alles & iedereen (everything & everyone)

A2Pronouns · lesson 20 of 57

Just like in English, _alles_ (everything) and _iedereen_ (everyone) are independent pronouns: They do not precede another noun.

The Dutch do not make a distinction between 'everyone' and 'anyone', they always say _iedereen_. The same goes for 'everything' and 'anything', for which the Dutch use the word _alles_.

Dutch | Application | English

alles | singular | everything, anything

iedereen | singular | everyone, anyone

Iedereen (everyone)

Although it refers to a group of people, _iedereen_ is regarded as a singular pronoun. The English pronouns 'everybody' and 'everyone' are also singular but in colloquial English we do come across sentences like " _Everyone_ has to brush _their_ teeth" (instead of the correct form: _his_ teeth). In Dutch, even colloquial Dutch, you will never hear this.

Iedereen kan leren fietsen. | Everyone (anyone) can learn how to ride a bicycle.

Hij kan met iedereen opschieten. | He gets along with everyone.

Heb je iedereen verwittigd? | Dit you notify everyone?

Alles (everything)

Just like _iedereen, alles_ is a singular pronoun.

Alles is veranderd. | Everything has changed.

Ik heb alles al gedaan. | I have done everything already.

Pronominal adverb _alles - overal_

If you already went through the [pronominal adverbs](#/lesson/Pronouns.Ad02), you know that we sometimes change the pronoun into an adverb when it is preceded by a preposition. We can (but in this case, do not have to) do the same with _alles._ For example, instead of _voor alles_ ('for everything'), we can say _overal voor_ ('everywhere for'). Note that we write _overal_ and _voor_ as two separate words (unlike most other [pronominal adverbs](#/lesson/Pronouns.Ad02)).

preposition + alles | | overal \+ preposition

In the examples below, both Dutch sentences are correct.

Hij heeft altijd op alles een antwoord. | He always has an answer to everything.

Hij heeft altijd overal een antwoord op. |

Ik kan met haar over alles praten. | With her, I can talk about everything.

Ik kan met haar overal over praten.

Collective indefinite pronouns Al, alle, allen, allemaal (all)
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