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### Describing Quantities: Sommige, Enkele, and Verschillende

When shopping or comparing products, you will often want to talk about specific subgroups or indefinite quantities. You can use **sommige** (some), **enkele** (a few), and **verschillende** (various / several) directly in front of plural nouns.

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When these words are used directly before a noun, they do not get any extra endings—even when that noun refers to people.

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### The -n Rule for People: Sommigen and Enkelen

Dutch has a strict spelling rule for these quantifiers when they act as standalone pronouns.

If the word stands completely on its own (without a noun right after it) AND it refers specifically to *people*, you must add an **-n** to the end: **sommigen** and **enkelen**.

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### Referring Back to Things

If a quantifier stands alone but refers to *things* rather than people, you do not add an **-n**. Instead, when you omit the noun, you will often use the word **er** (of them) alongside the quantifier to show what you are counting.

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Quantifying pronouns (sommige, enkele)

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
some	sommige
the item	het artikel
online	online
I prefer to buy some items online.	Sommige artikelen koop ik liever online.
the consumer	de consument
popular	populair
Some consumers buy this brand because it is very popular.	Sommige consumenten kopen dit merk omdat het erg populair is.
the shopkeeper	de winkelier
the warranty	de garantie
The shopkeepers give a warranty, but some do not do that.	De winkeliers geven garantie, maar sommigen doen dat niet.
the online store	de webshop
Some choose the online store that is cheap.	Sommigen kiezen de webshop die goedkoop is.
a few, several	enkele
the review	de recensie
I always read a few reviews about the item.	Ik lees altijd enkele recensies over het artikel.
second-hand	tweedehands
You get a warranty on a few second-hand products.	Je krijgt garantie op enkele tweedehands producten.
There are many consumers, but a few buy nothing.	Er zijn veel consumenten, maar enkelen kopen niets.
to exchange	ruilen
A few want to exchange the popular clothes.	Enkelen willen de populaire kleren ruilen.
various, several	verschillende
This online store sells various items.	Deze webshop verkoopt verschillende artikelen.
You can compare several reviews online.	Je kunt online verschillende recensies vergelijken.
Various shopkeepers sell second-hand books.	Verschillende winkeliers verkopen tweedehands boeken.
You can exchange several products because they are broken.	Je kunt verschillende producten ruilen omdat ze kapot zijn.
How many items do you have? I sell a few of them.	Hoeveel artikelen heb jij? Ik verkoop er enkele.