Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Dutch grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Hij gaf haar een tedere kus.
Is tedere in this sentence an example of a noun derived with -de, like liefde or koude?
No, in this sentence tedere is an adjective modifying the noun kus (kiss). The base adjective is teder (tender), and it gets an -e ending because it comes after een and modifies a de-word (de kus).
If I wanted to talk about 'tenderness' as a noun, would I use the -de suffix and say tederde?
Why doesn't the spelling of teder change to teeder when we add the -e adjective ending?
Because the first e in teder is already in an open syllable (te-der), so it has a long sound. When you add the -e for tedere, the syllables break down as te-de-re. The first e remains in an open syllable, so you don't need to double it to keep the long vowel sound.