Nominal Style: The Noun-Heavy Register | Dutch Grammar

There is a register of Dutch that turns verbs into nouns, actions into abstractions, and a simple statement into a tower of stacked noun phrases. It is the language of legislation, official letters, policy documents, contracts and academic prose, and the Dutch have a name for it: nominale stijl, nominal style — the noun-heavy register, sometimes mocked as ambtenarentaal ("civil-servant speak"). Where everyday Dutch says We voeren de werkzaamheden uit ("We carry out the work"), the nominal style says de uitvoering van de werkzaamheden ("the carrying-out of the works"). The information is the same; the packaging is utterly different. At C1 you need to do two things with this register: recognise it, because you will read it constantly in official Dutch, and wield it deliberately — using it where its formality and distance are appropriate, and avoiding it where its opacity does damage. This page shows you how it is built and what it costs.

What nominal style is: action repackaged as a thing

The defining move of nominal style is nominalization: taking the verb that carries the action and converting it into a noun, so the action becomes a thing the sentence can then push around. A verbal-style clause has its action in a verb; a nominal-style clause has it bottled up in a noun phrase, with a colourless "light" verb (plaatsvinden, zijn, geschieden, overgaan tot) doing the grammatical work.

Verbal style (clearer)	Nominal style (formal)
We voeren de werkzaamheden uit.	De uitvoering van de werkzaamheden vindt plaats.
De prijzen zijn gestegen.	Er is sprake van een stijging van de prijzen.
De gemeente besloot het plein te vernieuwen.	De gemeente ging over tot de vernieuwing van het plein.
We onderzoeken of het mogelijk is.	Een onderzoek naar de mogelijkheid wordt verricht.

Na afronding van de werkzaamheden volgt oplevering van het pand.

Following completion of the works, handover of the property will follow. (nominal style — three nominalizations, almost no real verbs; typical contractor's letter)

Als we klaar zijn met het werk, leveren we het pand op.

When we've finished the work, we'll hand over the property. (the same content in verbal style — clearer, more human)

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The quickest diagnostic for nominal style: count the real, content-carrying verbs per sentence. Verbal style has one per clause, doing real work. Nominal style often has none — just a colourless vindt plaats / is / wordt verricht propping up a noun that hides the actual action.

The building blocks of the register

Nominal style is assembled from a small kit of recurring devices. Recognising them is half the skill.

1. Deverbal nouns in -ing. The most productive nominalizing suffix: uitvoeren → de uitvoering, stijgen → de stijging, beoordelen → de beoordeling, behandelen → de behandeling. These -ing-nouns are the backbone of officialese.

De beoordeling van de aanvraag neemt enige tijd in beslag.

The assessment of the application will take some time. (the verb 'beoordelen' has become the noun 'de beoordeling')

2. The nominalized infinitive: het + infinitive. Any Dutch infinitive can become a neuter noun by prefixing het: het uitvoeren, het beoordelen, het niet-naleven van de regels ("the non-compliance with the rules"). This is a slightly lighter, more flexible nominalization than the -ing noun.

Het niet tijdig indienen van de stukken leidt tot uitsluiting.

Failure to submit the documents on time leads to exclusion. ('het ... indienen' as a noun — note the action is now a thing that 'leads to' a consequence)

3. Abstract nouns in -heid, -teit, -tie. Mogelijkheid, noodzakelijkheid, complexiteit, implementatie, realisatie — abstractions that let the writer talk about qualities and processes rather than people doing things.

De noodzakelijkheid van een grondige herziening staat buiten kijf.

The necessity of a thorough revision is beyond doubt. (abstraction stacked on abstraction — pure academic/bureaucratic register)

4. Prepositional chains. Because the nouns can't take direct objects, their arguments hang off them with van, naar, tot, met, door, producing the long van...van...van strings that are the unmistakable sound of officialese.

De verbetering van de kwaliteit van de dienstverlening aan de burgers van de gemeente...

The improvement of the quality of the service to the citizens of the municipality... (a chain of four 'van'-phrases — the signature drone of nominal style)

Why officialdom reaches for it — and what it costs

Nominal style is not simply bad Dutch. It does real work, which is why it persists. It is impersonal and agentless: Er is besloten tot sluiting ("It has been decided to close") states the outcome while hiding who decided — exactly what a bureaucracy, a court, or a cautious institution often wants. It is distancing and formal, lending weight and neutrality to legal and administrative text. It is compressing: a single noun phrase can pack in what would otherwise take a whole clause, which suits dense legal drafting where every word is load-bearing. And it carries a clear register signal — it sounds official, and that authority is sometimes the point.

Met betrekking tot de aanvraag is een besluit tot afwijzing genomen.

With regard to the application, a decision to reject has been taken. (agentless, impersonal, weighty — and conspicuously not saying 'we rejected your application')

The cost is opacity and lifelessness. Stacked nominalizations bury the action, hide the agent, and force the reader to unpack noun phrase after noun phrase to reconstruct who is doing what to whom. This is why the Dutch plain-language movement — duidelijke taal, begrijpelijke overheidstaal — campaigns hard against reflexive nominal style and for the verbal style: real verbs, named agents, shorter clauses. The verbal style is clearer, livelier, and more honest about who is responsible.

Verbal: Wij hebben uw aanvraag afgewezen omdat de gegevens onvolledig waren.

We have rejected your application because the information was incomplete. (the plain-language rewrite — a named agent 'wij', a real verb 'afgewezen', a stated reason)

How to use it deliberately

The C1 skill is control, not avoidance. Nominal style is right for a contract clause, a legal definition, an academic abstract, the formal sections of a report — contexts where impersonality, precision and gravity are genuinely wanted, marked (formal) or (academic). It is wrong for an email to a colleague, a customer-facing letter that should reassure, instructions someone must follow, or any prose meant to be quickly understood — there, over-nominalising reads as cold, evasive or pompous, and the worst offence of all is carrying nominal style into speech, where it sounds absurd.

In dit hoofdstuk volgt een bespreking van de implicaties van het beleid voor de werkgelegenheid.

This chapter offers a discussion of the policy's implications for employment. (appropriate nominal style — an academic chapter opener, where the register fits)

❌ (spoken) Na consumptie van het avondeten gaan we over tot het kijken naar een film.

Absurd in speech — nominal style ('consumptie', 'overgaan tot het kijken') has no place in conversation.

The rule of thumb: default to the verbal style for clarity, and switch to the nominal style only when impersonality, formality or compression genuinely serve the text — and then knowingly, not by habit.

Common Mistakes

❌ Na het eten gaan we over tot het kijken van een film.

Over-nominalised for a casual context — 'overgaan tot het kijken' is bureaucratic where a plain verb belongs.

✅ Na het eten gaan we een film kijken.

After dinner we're going to watch a film.

❌ Er is sprake van een verbetering van de situatie. (in a friendly email)

Too nominal and distancing for friendly register — it hides who and dodges a plain statement.

✅ De situatie is verbeterd.

The situation has improved.

❌ De uitvoering van de werkzaamheden zal door ons worden gedaan zo snel als mogelijk.

Tangled — a nominalization plus a clumsy passive plus a calque 'zo snel als mogelijk'; the verbal style is cleaner and the idiom is 'zo snel mogelijk'.

✅ Wij voeren de werkzaamheden zo snel mogelijk uit.

We'll carry out the work as quickly as possible.

❌ Het bestuur ging over tot het nemen van een beslissing tot het verlenen van toestemming.

Triple-stacked nominalization burying one simple act ('beslissen om toestemming te verlenen' → just 'besluiten').

✅ Het bestuur besloot toestemming te verlenen.

The board decided to grant permission.

❌ De stijging van de prijzen heeft plaatsgevonden door een toename van de vraag.

Two nominalizations and a hollow light verb where two real verbs would say it plainly; this reads as evasive officialese.

✅ De prijzen zijn gestegen doordat de vraag is toegenomen.

Prices have risen because demand has increased.

Key Takeaways

Nominal style (nominale stijl) packs content into noun phrases through nominalization — -ing nouns, het
- infinitive, abstract -heid/-teit/-tie nouns, and van-chains — propped up by colourless light verbs.
It is (formal) / (academic): impersonal, agentless, distancing and compressing — genuinely useful in law, contracts, policy and scholarship.
Its cost is opacity: it buries the action and hides the agent, which is why the duidelijke taal movement pushes the clearer, livelier verbal style.
Default to verbal style for clarity; switch to nominal style only when impersonality, formality or compression truly serve the text — and never carry it into speech.

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