Iets/Wat, Iemand and the Indefinite-Wat | Dutch Grammar

You already know iets ("something"), niets ("nothing"), iemand ("someone") and niemand ("no one"). This page goes deeper into two things textbooks tend to underplay. First, the everyday spoken word for "something" and "some" is very often not iets at all but wat — the same little word you know as the question word "what." Heb je wat te eten? means "Have you got something to eat?", and Ik heb wat geld means "I've got some money." Second, when you attach an adjective to iets, niets, wat or iemand, Dutch slips an -s onto the adjective: iets leuks ("something nice"). Both are high-frequency, and both are invisible if you only learn the dictionary forms. For the full inventory of indefinites and how negation works across them, see Indefinite Pronouns; for wat as a vague quantifier alongside veel, weinig and the rest, see Quantifiers.

iemand and niemand: the person words

These are the "someone / no one" pair, and they behave like singular pronouns. niemand is inherently negative, so — as everywhere in Dutch — you do not add a second negation.

Er staat iemand voor de deur.

There's someone at the door. 'iemand' = someone, an unspecified person.

Niemand weet waar hij is.

Nobody knows where he is. 'niemand' is already negative — no extra 'niet'.

Ik heb het aan niemand verteld.

I told it to no one. Note: 'aan niemand', not 'niet aan iemand'.

That last example is the key English-transfer point: English says "I didn't tell anyone," splitting negation and the pronoun, but Dutch fuses them into the single negative niemand. The same logic governs niets ("nothing") versus iets ("something / anything").

iets and niets: the thing words

iets covers both English "something" (in statements) and "anything" (in questions and after negation-like contexts). niets (with a colloquial variant niks, informal) is the negative.

Er is iets mis met de wifi.

Something's wrong with the wifi. 'er is iets mis' is a fixed, very common frame.

Heb je nog iets nodig?

Do you need anything else? In a question, 'iets' = 'anything'.

Ik snap er niets van.

I don't understand any of it. 'niets' = nothing; 'er ... van' = 'of it'.

Het is niks bijzonders, hoor.

It's nothing special, really. Colloquial 'niks' for 'niets'. (informal)

The -s rule: iets leuks, niets nieuws

Here is the pattern that surprises everyone. When you describe one of these indefinites with an adjective, the adjective takes an -s ending and follows the pronoun: iets + leuk → iets leuks ("something nice"). This is a fossil of an old genitive ("something of nice"), and it applies to iets, niets/niks, wat, veel, weinig, genoeg, zoiets and allerlei — all the vague-quantity words.

Pronoun + adjective	Result	English
iets + leuk	iets leuks	something nice
iets + nieuw	iets nieuws	something new
niets + bijzonder	niets bijzonders	nothing special
wat + lekker	wat lekkers	something tasty
veel + mooi	veel moois	a lot of beautiful things

Ik heb iets leuks voor je gekocht.

I bought you something nice. 'leuk' → 'leuks' after 'iets'.

Vertel eens iets nieuws!

Tell me something new! Note 'nieuws' with the -s — not the everyday 'nieuw'.

Er was niets bijzonders aan de hand.

Nothing special was going on. 'bijzonder' → 'bijzonders'.

A couple of mechanics: if the adjective already ends in a sound that won't take a clean -s, or after certain stems, Dutch may write -s anyway (iets moois, from mooi). And do not confuse this -s with the normal attributive -e ending you use before a noun (een leuke film). The indefinite construction has no noun — the adjective is doing the naming itself, which is why it patterns like the nominalised adjectives on Adjectives as Nouns.

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The rule is mechanical: iets / niets / niks / wat / veel / weinig / genoeg + adjective → add -s to the adjective. iets leuks, niets nieuws, wat lekkers. If you catch yourself saying iets leuk or iets leuke, it's almost certainly iets leuks.

The colloquial wat: "something" and "some"

Now the big one. In casual spoken Dutch, wat routinely replaces iets ("something") and serves as a vague "some" with mass nouns — a use English speakers rarely see in their textbooks but hear constantly. This wat is unstressed and indefinite; it is not the question word, even though it's spelled identically.

wat = "something"

Wil je wat drinken?

Do you want something to drink? Colloquial 'wat' = 'iets' (something). Extremely common spoken Dutch. (informal)

Heb je wat te eten in huis?

Have you got something to eat at home? 'wat' for 'iets'. (informal)

Zal ik wat voor je meenemen?

Shall I bring something back for you? (informal)

wat = "some" (with mass / plural nouns)

This is the use that maps onto English "some" before an uncountable noun — some money, some time, some water. Dutch wat does the job, and it sounds lighter and more natural than the more measured een beetje ("a little").

Ik heb wat geld bij me.

I've got some money on me. 'wat geld' = 'some money' (mass noun).

Heb je nog wat tijd?

Do you have some time (to spare)? 'wat tijd' = a bit of time.

Doe er maar wat suiker in.

Just put some sugar in it. 'wat suiker' = some sugar.

Er liggen nog wat koekjes in de trommel.

There are still some biscuits in the tin. 'wat' with a plural count noun = 'a few / some'.

So one word, wat, covers what English splits into "something" and "some." The phrase Wil je wat? on its own means "Do you want some?" / "Do you want a bit?" — context fills in the noun. Compare:

Lekker hoor. Wil je wat?

Mmm, tasty. Want some? Bare 'wat' = 'some (of this)'. (informal)

Wat wil je?

What do you want? Here 'wat' is stressed and fronted — the question word, a completely different job.

The difference is position and stress: the interrogative wat is stressed and starts the clause; the indefinite wat is unstressed and sits where an object or quantifier would. Once you tune your ear to that, the two stop competing.

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If you can replace it with "some" or "a bit of," it's the indefinite wat (unstressed, mid-sentence). If you can replace it with "what?", it's the question word (stressed, up front). Wil je wat? = "Want some?"; Wat wil je? = "What do you want?"

A register note: indefinite wat for iets/een beetje is informal. In formal writing, prefer iets ("something") and enkele / enige / wat (some) — though even formal prose uses wat for "some" fairly freely. In a job application you'd write Ik heb enige ervaring; chatting with a friend, Ik heb wat ervaring.

Common Mistakes

The errors below are the ones that mark a learner as textbook-trained rather than ear-trained.

❌ Ik heb iets leuk gekocht.

Missing the -s — after 'iets' the adjective takes -s: 'iets leuks'.

✅ Ik heb iets leuks gekocht.

I bought something nice.

❌ Vertel me iets nieuwe.

Wrong ending — this isn't the attributive -e (there's no noun); it's the indefinite -s: 'iets nieuws'.

✅ Vertel me iets nieuws.

Tell me something new.

❌ Ik heb niet iemand gezien.

Double trouble — Dutch fuses negation into the pronoun. 'I saw no one' = 'Ik heb niemand gezien'.

✅ Ik heb niemand gezien.

I saw no one.

❌ Wil je iets? — only ever 'iets'?

Not wrong, but stiff in speech. Natives overwhelmingly say 'Wil je wat?' for 'Do you want some/something?'. Learn the colloquial 'wat'.

✅ Wil je wat? / Wil je wat drinken?

Want some? / Want something to drink? (informal — the natural spoken form.)

❌ Heb je een beetje geld? (when you just mean 'some')

Over-precise — 'een beetje' stresses smallness ('a little'). For a neutral 'some money', 'wat geld' is more natural.

✅ Heb je wat geld bij je?

Have you got some money on you?

Key Takeaways

iemand/niemand and iets/niets are the person/thing indefinites; the negatives are inherently negative — no second niet (Ik ken niemand, not Ik ken niet iemand).
After iets / niets / niks / wat / veel / weinig, an adjective takes -s: iets leuks, niets nieuws, wat lekkers — a frozen genitive, distinct from the attributive -e.
In casual speech, wat routinely means "something" (Wil je wat drinken?) and "some" with mass/plural nouns (Ik heb wat geld) — a high-frequency informal use.
Tell the indefinite wat from the question word by stress and position: unstressed mid-sentence = "some/something"; stressed and fronted = "what?".

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