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Questions & Answers about Een drankje, alstublieft.
Why use drankje here instead of just drank?
Drankje is the diminutive form of drank (beverage), made by adding the basic -je suffix. While it literally means a small drink, Dutch speakers use een drankje very often to mean a casual beverage in a social setting. It sounds friendlier and more natural than just saying drank.
If I wanted to say 'the drink' instead of 'a drink', would it be de drankje or het drankje?
It would be het drankje. One of the most helpful rules in Dutch is that all diminutive words (words ending in -je) automatically become het words, no matter what the original word was! Here we use een (a), which is the same for both de and het words.
Is alstublieft the only way to say please?
Alstublieft is the formal version of please, which is perfect for ordering in a cafe or restaurant. If you are asking a friend or family member for a drink, you would use the informal version: alsjeblieft. Notice that the informal version actually contains a -je in the middle!