The little word er is one of the hardest things in Dutch for English speakers, and the reason is simple: English has no clean equivalent, so the word feels like it can be skipped. It can't. Er does several different jobs, and in three of them it is grammatically obligatory — leave it out and the sentence is broken, not merely unidiomatic. English speakers reliably drop it because nothing in their native grammar prompts them to put it there. This page isolates the three cases where omitting er is an outright error — the existential, the quantitative, and the impersonal passive — and drills each one.
Why English speakers drop it
In English, "there is" uses there as a dummy subject, and "I have three (of them)" needs no extra word at all. Dutch maps neither of these cleanly. Its existential there is er, but its placement and obligatoriness differ from English there; and its quantitative er ("of them") has no English counterpart you'd ever pronounce. So the learner, hearing nothing in their head that demands er, simply omits it. The fix is to learn the three triggers as fixed patterns, not to translate.
1. Existential 'er': there is / there are
To say something exists or is present — especially when introducing something new and indefinite — Dutch opens with er, much like English "there is/there are." The verb agrees with the real subject, and er fills the introductory slot. Omitting er leaves the sentence without its required opener and sounds badly broken.
❌ Is een probleem.
Incorrect — an existential needs 'er'; the sentence has no subject slot filled.
✅ Er is een probleem.
There's a problem.
✅ Er zijn nog twee kaartjes over.
There are two tickets left. Plural subject → 'zijn'; 'er' still opens.
✅ Er staat iemand voor de deur.
There's someone at the door. Note Dutch uses a precise posture verb ('staat') where English uses 'is'.
When you front something else for emphasis — a time or place phrase — er doesn't disappear; it moves to just after the verb. The existential force stays.
✅ In de keuken staat er nog koffie.
There's still coffee in the kitchen. Fronting 'in de keuken' pushes 'er' after the verb, but it's still there.
A useful note: with a definite subject, the existential er is often dropped, because you're no longer introducing something new (De koffie staat in de keuken — "The coffee's in the kitchen"). The obligatory case is the indefinite one: er is/zijn + een/geen/getal/iemand...
2. Quantitative 'er': er + a number/quantity
This is the use with no English equivalent at all, and the one learners drop most. When you state a quantity of something already known — "I have three (of them)," "she bought two" — Dutch requires er before the number. English just says "three"; Dutch cannot. The er stands in for "of them / of it," and the noun itself is left out because it's understood.
❌ Ik heb drie.
Incorrect — a bare number referring back to a known noun needs 'er': 'er drie'.
✅ Ik heb er drie.
I have three (of them).
A: Hoeveel appels wil je? — B: Doe er maar vijf.
A: How many apples do you want? — B: Give me five. 'er' is obligatory before 'vijf'.
✅ Zij heeft er geen meer.
She doesn't have any left. 'er' + 'geen' — still required.
This er appears with any quantity word, not just bare numbers — veel, een paar, genoeg — whenever the counted noun is left implicit.
✅ Er zijn er nog veel.
There are still many (of them). Note the DOUBLE 'er': the first is existential, the second is quantitative.
That double-er sentence (Er zijn er...) startles learners, but it's correct and common: one er opens the existential, the other carries "of them."
3. Impersonal passive 'er': er wordt...
Dutch loves the impersonal passive — a passive with no real subject, describing an activity in the abstract: "there's dancing going on," "there was a lot of talking." These open with er plus a passive verb (wordt/werd + participle). English usually rephrases ("people were dancing"), so learners, lacking the pattern, drop the er and produce a subjectless fragment.
❌ Wordt gedanst.
Incorrect — an impersonal passive needs the opening 'er'.
✅ Er wordt gedanst.
There's dancing (going on). Activity described impersonally; 'er' is obligatory.
✅ Er werd veel gelachen op het feest.
There was a lot of laughing at the party. Past impersonal passive — 'er werd...'.
✅ Er wordt hier niet gerookt.
There's no smoking here. A common sign/rule phrasing — note the obligatory 'er'.
As with the existential, fronting something pushes er to just behind the verb but never deletes it.
✅ Op zondag wordt er bij ons niet gewerkt.
On Sundays we don't work (lit. there's no working at our place). Fronted 'op zondag'; 'er' sits after the verb.
The three obligatory cases at a glance
| Use | Trigger | Wrong (no er) | Right |
|---|---|---|---|
| existential | introducing an indefinite subject | Is een probleem. | Er is een probleem. |
| quantitative | a number/quantity standing for a known noun | Ik heb drie. | Ik heb er drie. |
| impersonal passive | wordt/werd + participle, no real subject | Wordt gedanst. | Er wordt gedanst. |
Common Mistakes
❌ Is iemand aan de telefoon voor je.
Incorrect — existential introduction of an indefinite subject needs 'er'.
✅ Er is iemand aan de telefoon voor je.
There's someone on the phone for you.
❌ Zijn nog koekjes in de la.
Incorrect — plural existential still needs 'er'.
✅ Er zijn nog koekjes in de la.
There are still biscuits in the drawer.
❌ Ik wil twee, alsjeblieft.
Incorrect — a bare quantity referring to a known noun needs quantitative 'er'.
✅ Ik wil er twee, alsjeblieft.
I'd like two (of them), please.
❌ Wordt hard gewerkt op kantoor.
Incorrect — impersonal passive without its opening 'er'.
✅ Er wordt hard gewerkt op kantoor.
There's hard work going on at the office.
❌ In dit huis wordt veel gelezen.
Not strictly wrong in meaning, but 'er' is missing — after fronting it must reappear behind the verb.
✅ In dit huis wordt er veel gelezen.
In this house there's a lot of reading. Fronting moves 'er' after the verb; it doesn't delete it.
Key Takeaways
- Er has no single English equivalent, so learners drop it — but in three uses it is obligatory.
- Existential: introduce an indefinite subject with er is/zijn (Er is een probleem). With definite subjects er is often dropped — the indefinite case is the obligatory one.
- Quantitative: a number or quantity standing in for a known noun needs er (Ik heb er drie). English has no word here, which is why it's the most-dropped er.
- Impersonal passive: activities described with no real subject open with er wordt/werd + participle (Er wordt gedanst).
- Fronting a time/place phrase moves er to just after the verb — it never deletes it (In de keuken staat er koffie).
Now practice Dutch
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Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- Existential and Presentative ErA2 — Presentative er introduces a brand-new, indefinite subject onto the scene — Er is koffie, Er staan veel mensen op straat — and is omitted the moment the subject becomes definite.
- Pronominal Er: Er + Preposition (ermee, erop, erover)B1 — A preposition cannot take a thing-pronoun in Dutch, so er replaces it and fuses with the preposition — 'with it' is ermee, not 'met het'; 'about it' is erover; 'on it' is erop — with the irregular fusions met→mee and tot→toe.
- Common Mistakes English Speakers Make: OverviewA2 — A map of the recurring errors English speakers make in Dutch — V2 word-order slips, de/het gender, niet vs geen, false friends, the hebben/zijn auxiliary, omdat vs want order, and English calques like do-support and the progressive. Each is previewed with a one-line example and linked to its dedicated page.
- Mistake: The -dt Spelling (wordt, vindt, gebeurd)B1 — The most notorious spelling trap in Dutch — even natives slip. For verbs whose stem ends in -d, the hij/jij present tense is stem + t (word + t = wordt), the ik-form is bare stem (word), inversion before je drops the -t (word je?), and the past participle -d (gebeurd) must not be confused with the present -t (gebeurt). This page builds the rule from the ground up and drills every trap.
- Mistake: Splitting Compounds (de Engelse ziekte)B1 — English writes noun compounds as separate words (taxi driver); Dutch glues them into a single solid word (taxichauffeur), sometimes with a linking -s- or -en-. Splitting them — nicknamed 'de Engelse ziekte', the English disease — is the most visible written anglicism in Dutch. This page drills the solid-compound rule and the linking letters.