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### Passive Sentences with Indirect Objects

In English, when someone is given, offered, or refused something, that person usually becomes the subject of a passive sentence (e.g., "I am offered a drink").

In Dutch, this is not allowed. The indirect object (the person receiving the action) must remain an object pronoun, such as **mij**, **hem**, **haar**, or **ons**. 

The actual grammatical subject of the Dutch sentence is the *thing* being given or offered. Because these sentences often start with the person to emphasize who is affected, it translates literally as "To me is a cocktail offered."

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Because the *thing* is the subject, the verb must agree with it. If the item is plural (like casino chips), the verb must be plural (**worden**), even if the person receiving them is a single individual (**hem**).

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### Refusals and Advice

This structure is very common with verbs like **weigeren** (to refuse/deny) and **afraden** (to advise against). Notice how the object pronouns sit comfortably at the front of the sentence.

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This rule applies to all indirect object pronouns, including **jullie** (you all).

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### Past Tense Dative Passives

To talk about what happened earlier in the night, simply change **wordt/worden** to the past tense **werd/werden**. Remember, the verb still agrees with the thing being given or denied, not the person receiving it!

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Dative passives

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

determiner/pronoun

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Singular pronouns and 'to be' (ik ben, hij is)

The formal 'you' (u bent)

Definite articles (de, het)

Plural pronouns and 'to be' (wij zijn)

The verb 'to have' (hebben)

Basic word order

Numbers 1 to 10 (een, twee, drie)

Verb stems and the 'I' form (ik werk)

Long vowels in verb stems (maken, ik maak)

Short vowels in verb stems (zitten, ik zit)

Present tense singular (-t)

Present tense plural (-en)

Yes/no questions

Question words (wie, wat, waar)

Noun negation (geen)

Plural nouns (-en)

Plural nouns (-s)

Diminutives (-je)

Adjective modifiers (heel, erg, te)

Verb negation (niet)

Singular possessives (mijn, jouw, zijn, haar)

Plural and formal possessives (ons/onze, jullie, hun, uw)

This and these (deze, dit)

That and those (die, dat)

Asking which (welke, welk)

Numbers 11 to 20 (elf, twaalf, dertien...)

Tens and compound numbers (dertig, veertig...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (eerste, tweede...)

Telling time: hours and half hours (uur, half)

Telling time: quarters (kwart over, kwart voor)

Question words (hoeveel, waarom)

Irregular verbs (doen, gaan, staan, zien, komen)

Adjective endings (+e)

Adjectives with 'het' words

Prepositions of place (uit, bij)

Subject-verb inversion

Time before place

Modal verbs (willen, kunnen)

Modal verbs (moeten, mogen)

The verb bracket

Separable prefix verbs

The imperative mood (kom, luister)

Singular object pronouns (mij, jou, hem, haar)

Plural and formal object pronouns (ons, jullie, hen, u)

Reflexive verbs and pronouns (zich, me, je)

Position of negation (niet)

The present perfect tense with regular verbs (hebben gewerkt)

The present perfect tense with motion verbs (zijn gegaan)

Irregular past participles (gezien, gedaan)

The present continuous (zijn aan het)

There is / there are (er is, er zijn)

Unstressed there (er)

And, but, or (en, maar, of)

Because (want)

Months of the year

Prepositions of time (om, van ... tot)

Greetings and politeness

Conversational glue

Prepositions with days (op)

Prepositions with seasons (in)

Genitive of time ('s morgens, 's nachts)

Adverbs of frequency (altijd, vaak)

The future tense (gaan)

The future tense (zullen)

Separable verbs with auxiliary verbs

Apostrophe plurals ('-s)

Irregular plurals (-eren)

Complex diminutives (-pje, -etje, -kje)

Possessive 's (Jan's, vaders)

Indefinite pronouns (iets, niemand, alles)

Indefinite subject pronoun (je)

Reciprocal pronoun (elkaar)

Comparative adjectives (-er dan)

Comparatives with spelling change (-der)

Superlative adjectives (-st)

Irregular comparisons (beter, meer, minder)

Expressing preference (graag, liever, het liefst)

Equality comparisons (even ... als)

Fixed prepositions

That clauses (dat)

Because clauses (omdat)

If and when clauses (als)

Inversion after clauses

Separable verbs in clauses

Negation in clauses (niet)

Past tense of to be (was / waren)

Past tense of to have (had / hadden)

Question	Answer
the casino	het casino
the cocktail	de cocktail
I am offered a cocktail in the casino.	Mij wordt in het casino een cocktail aangeboden.
the chip	het fiche
the croupier	de croupier
He is given the chips by the croupier.	Hem worden de fiches door de croupier gegeven.
the roulette	de roulette
We are denied access to roulette.	Ons wordt de toegang tot de roulette geweigerd.
to advise against	afraden
reckless	roekeloos
to gamble	gokken
She is advised against gambling recklessly.	Haar wordt afgeraden om roekeloos te gokken.
We risk each other's money when we gamble recklessly.	We riskeren elkaars geld als we roekeloos gokken.
I was advised against roulette by the croupier.	Mij werd de roulette afgeraden door de croupier.
the jackpot	de jackpot
He was given a thousand euros after he had won the jackpot.	Hem werd duizend euro gegeven nadat hij de jackpot had gewonnen.
the gambler	de gokker
Before the gambler wins the jackpot, he orders a cocktail there.	Voordat de gokker de jackpot wint, bestelt hij er een cocktail.
The gambler advises against that small casino.	De gokker raadt dat kleine casino af.
You are promised nothing if you gamble recklessly.	Jullie wordt niets beloofd als jullie roekeloos gokken.
He is refused the chip by the croupier.	Hem wordt het fiche door de croupier geweigerd.
the bar	de bar
The cocktail is served at the bar.	De cocktail wordt aan de bar geserveerd.
He sits recklessly gambling at the bar.	Hij zit roekeloos aan de bar te gokken.
drunk	dronken
The gambler got drunk.	De gokker werd dronken.
Drunk players are advised against gambling.	Dronken spelers worden het gokken afgeraden.
the pub	de kroeg
After the casino we went to the pub.	Na het casino gingen wij naar de kroeg.
In the pub nobody drinks a cocktail.	In de kroeg drinkt niemand een cocktail.

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