Breakdown of Wij beloven hun een objectieve revisie van het manuscript.
een
a/an
wij
we
hun
their
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
beloven
to promise
het manuscript
the manuscript
objectief
objective
de revisie
the revision
Questions & Answers about Wij beloven hun een objectieve revisie van het manuscript.
Why is hun used here instead of hen?
In formal written Dutch, hun is used for indirect objects when there is no preposition in front of it. Here, 'they' are the ones receiving the promise (we promise something to them), so they are the indirect object. Because there is no preposition like aan (to) in the sentence, hun is the correct formal choice.
If I wanted to include the preposition aan (to), how would that change the pronoun?
The moment you add a preposition, you must switch the pronoun to hen. The sentence would then be: Wij beloven een objectieve revisie aan hen. This is the core of the formal writing rule: use hun for indirect objects without a preposition, and hen for direct objects or any object following a preposition.
Is this strict hun vs. hen distinction used in everyday speech?
Rarely. It is almost exclusively a formal written rule. In everyday spoken Dutch, natives typically bypass the dilemma entirely by using the unstressed pronoun ze for both hen and hun. You are much more likely to hear: Wij beloven ze een objectieve revisie van het manuscript.
Why does objectieve get an -e ending even though it comes after een?
Adjectives only drop the -e after een if they describe a singular het-word. Because revisie (revision) is a de-word, the adjective follows the standard rule and keeps its -e ending.
Can I change the word order and put een objectieve revisie before hun?
No, in Dutch sentence structure, an indirect object without a preposition (hun) almost always comes before the direct object (een objectieve revisie). If you want to place the people at the end of the clause, you must use a prepositional phrase: Wij beloven een objectieve revisie aan hen.
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