To talk about a woman, Dutch often adds an ending to the general word: _leraar_ becomes _lerares_, _vriend_ becomes _vriendin_. For jobs, though, many people now use one word for everyone, so _Zij is leraar_ is perfectly normal. Both forms take _de_: _de leraar_, _de lerares_.
The pattern
A woman can get her own word with _-es_, _-in_, _-ster_ or _-e_, but for jobs many people now use one form for everyone. Both forms take _de_.
- _-es_: _leraar_ / _lerares_, _zanger_ / _zangeres_, _prins_ / _prinses_
- _-in_: _vriend_ / _vriendin_, _boer_ / _boerin_, _koning_ / _koningin_
- _-ster_: mainly for _-er_ words made from a verb (see [Making nouns from verbs and adjectives](#/lesson/nouns-from-verbs)). Add _-ster_ to the verb stem (the _ik_ form): _schrijver_ / _schrijfster_, _verkoper_ / _verkoopster_, _kapper_ / _kapster_. Many verb words do this, but not all: _zanger_ takes _-es_.
- _-e_: mainly words ending in _-ent_ or _-aat_: _student_ / _studente_, _assistent_ / _assistente_, _kandidaat_ / _kandidate_
- Some pairs are separate words or come from French: _buurman_ / _buurvrouw_, _acteur_ / _actrice_, _directeur_ / _directrice_
- Plurals follow the normal rules: _leraressen_, _vriendinnen_, _schrijfsters_, _studentes_
- The female forms with these endings take _de_: _de lerares_, _de vriendin_, _de schrijfster_, _de studente_
The ending is not fully predictable, so learn the female form together with the word, just as you learn its article.
Examples
| Mijn lerares Nederlands vraagt altijd hoe mijn weekend was. | My Dutch teacher always asks how my weekend was. |
|---|---|
| Fatima is leraar op een basisschool, net als haar moeder. | Fatima is a teacher at a primary school, just like her mother. |
| Mei gaat zaterdag met een vriendin naar de markt. | Mei is going to the market with a friend on Saturday. |
| De schrijfster van dat boek woont bij ons in de straat. | The author of that book lives in our street. |
| Toen Priya studente was, woonde ze op kamers in Groningen. | When Priya was a student, she rented a room in Groningen. |
| De verkoopster vroeg of ik een tasje nodig had. | The shop assistant asked if I needed a bag. |
| Onze buurvrouw geeft de kat eten als wij op vakantie zijn. | Our neighbour feeds the cat when we are on holiday. |
| Sanne is net gekozen tot voorzitter van de voetbalclub. | Sanne has just been elected chair of the football club. |
| Yara wil huisarts worden, omdat ze graag met mensen werkt. | Yara wants to become a GP because she likes working with people. |
Why it works this way
Think of the general word as the name of the job, and the ending as a small label that adds: this person is a woman. When that does not matter, many speakers leave the label off. So _Fatima is lerares_ and _Fatima is leraar_ are both correct and mean the same. Both are common in everyday speech; the general form is especially common in job ads, contracts and the news. With _burgemeester_, _hoogleraar_ or _huisarts_, the general form is the normal word for women anyway.
Outside work, the female form is usually the normal choice: a female friend is normally _een vriendin_, and a female monarch is _de koningin_. Some neutral words do exist, such as _de buur_ for a neighbour of any gender, but most people in the Netherlands still say _buurman_ or _buurvrouw_. And the general form covers mixed groups: _de leraren_ can be men, women or both.
English has the same idea: waitress, actress, and spinster, which first meant a woman who spins. That _-ster_ is the same old ending as in _schrijfster_. English has mostly dropped these endings for jobs, and Dutch is heading the same way, just more slowly.
Why _de_? In older Dutch, most words for people were masculine or feminine, and in modern Dutch both of those genders use _de_. So most words for people are _de_-words, but not all. The main exceptions are _het kind_, _het lid_ and diminutives (the small forms with _-je_) such as _het meisje_, because a singular diminutive always takes _het_. More in [De or het: the two words for "the"](#/lesson/de-and-het).
Remember: the female ending changes the person, not the article: _de leraar_, _de lerares_. A diminutive ending does change it: _de vriendin_, but _het vriendinnetje_.
Watch out
- Not: _de studentin_ Say: _de studente_ (_-in_ is the German habit; _student_ takes _-e_)
- Not: _de schrijveres_ Say: _de schrijfster_ (_schrijver_ takes _-ster_ on the stem _schrijf_, not _-es_)
- Not: _Mijn broer is verpleegster._ Say: _Mijn broer is verpleegkundige._ (_verpleegster_ is only for women; _verpleegkundige_ is for everyone)
- Not: _twee leraresen_ Say: _twee leraressen_ (the stressed short _e_ of _-es_ needs a double _s_ before _-en_)
Quick check
- Fill in the female form: _Mijn tante schrijft kinderboeken. Ze is een bekende ... (schrijver)._
- Fill in the female form: _Op de bruiloft zong een ... (zanger) uit Suriname._
- Choose _de_ or _het_: _... nieuwe verkoopster helpt me altijd bij de zelfscankassa._
- Fix the sentence: _Ik ga vanavond met twee vriendinen naar de film._
Answers
- _schrijfster_: _schrijver_ takes _-ster_, added to _schrijf_, the stem of _schrijven_.
- _zangeres_: _zanger_ takes _-es_.
- _De_: female forms like _verkoopster_ take _de_.
- _Ik ga vanavond met twee vriendinnen naar de film._ The stressed short _i_ in _-in_ needs a double _n_ before _-en_.
Use it today
Think of three women you deal with this week, such as your GP, a colleague or your neighbour, and describe each one in a Dutch sentence: _Mijn buurvrouw is kapster._ For each job, decide whether you would use the female form or the general form, and say the word aloud with _de_.