This page is a map of the whole derivational landscape — a single place to see the most productive Dutch suffixes side by side, organised by what they produce. The detailed pages elsewhere in this group dig into each family; this one is the reference card you come back to. The organising idea is simple but powerful: a suffix tells you three things at once — the word class of the result (noun, adjective, verb), often its gender (for nouns), and its meaning. Learn the suffix once and you unlock every word built with it. Below, one table per output type.
Noun-building suffixes
These turn verbs, adjectives, or other nouns into nouns. The gender column is the payoff: most of these fix de or het outright, which is the single best shortcut to Dutch article gender.
| Suffix | Gender | Builds from | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ing | de | verb | action / result | de wandeling (walk), de opleiding (training) |
| -heid | de | adjective | quality (= -ness) | de vrijheid (freedom), de snelheid (speed) |
| -er | de | verb | agent / instrument | de bakker (baker), de opener (opener) |
| -aar | de | verb | agent (after -l/-n/-r) | de leraar (teacher), de winnaar (winner) |
| -je / -tje | het | noun | diminutive | het huisje (little house), het kopje (cup) |
| -sel | het | verb | result / substance | het raadsel (riddle), het deksel (lid) |
| -schap | de (mostly) | noun/adj | state / domain | de vriendschap (friendship); BUT het landschap (landscape) |
Two warnings on this table. First, -er and -aar are the same agent suffix in different phonological clothes: -aar appears after stems ending in -l, -n, or -r (leraar, winnaar, huichelaar), -er elsewhere (bakker, schrijver). Second, -schap is the one genuine gender trap: it is de in the abstract relationship nouns (de vriendschap, de wetenschap, de maatschappij) but flips to het in a small set of concrete or collective ones — above all het landschap (landscape) and het gezelschap (company/group). You must learn those few het-cases by heart.
De wandeling langs het strand duurde een uur.
The walk along the beach took an hour. '-ing' → de-noun of action: de wandeling.
De vrijheid om te kiezen is veel waard.
The freedom to choose is worth a lot. '-heid' → de-noun of quality: de vrijheid.
Dit is een raadsel dat niemand kan oplossen.
This is a riddle nobody can solve. '-sel' → het-noun: het raadsel.
Onze vriendschap is door de jaren heen gegroeid.
Our friendship has grown over the years. '-schap' is de here: de vriendschap.
Het landschap in Drenthe is prachtig.
The landscape in Drenthe is beautiful. The -schap trap: het landschap is one of the het exceptions.
Adjective-building suffixes
These build adjectives from nouns, verbs, and other adjectives. The big win for English speakers is that several map one-to-one onto English endings.
| Suffix | English equivalent | Builds from | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ig | -y | noun | having the quality of | zonnig (sunny), haastig (hasty) |
| -lijk | -ly / -able | noun/verb | characteristic / possible | vriendelijk (friendly), mogelijk (possible) |
| -baar | -able / -ible | verb | can be ___ed | eetbaar (edible), houdbaar (durable) |
| -loos | -less | noun | without | werkloos (unemployed), zinloos (pointless) |
| -achtig | -ish / -like | noun/adj | resembling / somewhat | roodachtig (reddish), kinderachtig (childish) |
The cleanest pair to internalise is -baar = -able and -loos = -less. They are productive opposites: from a verb, -baar says "can be done to" (verkoopbaar, sellable; leesbaar, legible); from a noun, -loos says "without it" (hopeloos, hopeless; smakeloos, tasteless). The trap is mixing them up by analogy with the English word you started from — useless is nutteloos (without use), not gebruikbaar (usable), which is its opposite.
Het was een zonnige dag, dus we gingen naar het park.
It was a sunny day, so we went to the park. '-ig' = English '-y': zonnig.
Deze paddenstoel is niet eetbaar — laat hem staan.
This mushroom is not edible — leave it be. '-baar' = '-able': eetbaar (can be eaten).
Na het faillissement was hij maandenlang werkloos.
After the bankruptcy he was unemployed for months. '-loos' = '-less': werkloos (without work).
Doe niet zo kinderachtig, je bent volwassen.
Don't be so childish, you're an adult. '-achtig' = '-ish': kinderachtig.
Verb-building suffixes
Two suffixes build (or modify) verbs. -eren makes verbs, especially from borrowed roots; -elen (and its sibling -eren in the frequentative sense) adds a repetitive / diminutive flavour to a verb — "to keep doing in small bursts."
| Suffix | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -eren | forms verbs (often from loans) | studeren (study), reageren (react), telefoneren (phone) |
| -elen | frequentative: small, repeated action | druppelen (to drip), trappelen (to kick repeatedly), kriebelen (to tickle) |
Ze studeert geneeskunde in Groningen.
She studies medicine in Groningen. '-eren' builds a verb from a borrowed root: studeren.
Het water begon van het dak te druppelen.
Water began to drip from the roof. '-elen' gives the small, repeated sense: druppelen (drip by drip).
How to use this card
When you meet an unfamiliar derived word, strip the suffix and read it backwards: the suffix gives you the class and (for nouns) the gender; the stem gives you the meaning. Houdbaarheid → -heid (de-noun of quality) on houdbaar (-baar: "can be kept") on houden (to keep) = "shelf life / durability," a de-word. You never memorised it; the suffixes told you everything.
Common Mistakes
❌ het vrijheid
Incorrect — '-heid' always builds a de-word.
✅ de vrijheid
freedom — the suffix -heid fixes the gender as de.
❌ de landschap
Incorrect — 'landschap' is one of the het exceptions to -schap.
✅ het landschap
the landscape — most -schap words are de (de vriendschap), but landschap and gezelschap are het.
❌ Deze fout is onvermijdbaar zinloos.
Confused suffixes — '-baar' = -able and '-loos' = -less are opposites and shouldn't be stacked like this.
✅ Deze fout was vermijdbaar.
This mistake was avoidable. '-baar' = can be done; keep it distinct from '-loos' (without).
❌ Useless heet 'gebruikbaar' in het Nederlands.
Incorrect — 'gebruikbaar' means usable; useless is its opposite, 'nutteloos'.
✅ Useless heet 'nutteloos'.
'Useless' is 'nutteloos' (-loos = without use), not 'gebruikbaar' (usable).
❌ de huisje
Incorrect — every diminutive in -je/-tje is a het-word.
✅ het huisje
the little house — the diminutive suffix -tje fixes the gender as het.
Key Takeaways
- A suffix fixes three things: word class, often gender, and meaning. Learn it once, unlock every word built with it.
- Noun genders: -ing/-heid/-er/-aar → de; -je/-tje/-sel → het; -schap is mostly de but het in landschap, gezelschap.
- Adjective map: -ig = -y, -lijk = -ly/-able, -baar = -able, -loos = -less, -achtig = -ish. Keep -baar and -loos apart — they are opposites.
- Verb suffixes: -eren builds verbs (often from loans); -elen gives a small, repeated, frequentative sense.
- To decode a long derived word, strip the suffix and read backwards from the stem.
Now practice Dutch
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Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- Word Formation in Dutch: OverviewB1 — Dutch builds new words three ways: compounding (gluing words solid, like keukentafel), derivation (adding prefixes and suffixes, like verwerken or vrijheid), and conversion (using a word as a different part of speech, like het eten). This page orients you to all three and shows how parsing a word into its pieces lets you decode and even predict the meaning, gender, and plural of words you have never seen.
- Noun Suffixes and GenderB1 — Dutch noun suffixes are the single most reliable shortcut to de/het. Suffixes like -ing, -heid, -tie, -teit, and -ist make de-words; suffixes like -je, -sel, -isme, -ment, and -um make het-words. This page gives the full tables, the one genuine trap (-schap, which is mostly de but het in landschap), and how to use suffixes to predict an article you have never heard.
- Adjective-Forming SuffixesB1 — Dutch builds adjectives with a small set of productive suffixes. The three that map cleanly onto English are -baar (= -able, eetbaar), -loos (= -less, zinloos), and -achtig (= -ish, roodachtig). The general workhorses -ig (handig, zonnig) and -lijk (vriendelijk, mogelijk) build everyday adjectives, while -isch, -zaam, and -s cover the rest. All of them inflect normally with -e.
- Agent and Instrument NounsB1 — Dutch builds 'one who does X' and 'thing that does X' from verbs with a small set of suffixes — above all -er (bakker, opener), plus -aar (leraar, handelaar) and historically female -ster (verpleegster). This page explains which suffix attaches where, why almost all of them are de-words, and the errors English speakers make.
- Diminutives: The -je SystemA1 — The Dutch diminutive (-je and its variants) is one of the most productive features of the language: it attaches to almost any noun, makes every result a het-word with an -s plural, and carries far more meaning than English '-ie' or 'little'.