Grammatica - loco

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Predicative adjectives (i.e. those not used before nouns as in ‘Rubies are
red’) never inflect in Dutch unlike in languages such as French, Italian
and Swedish, for example.
9.1.2
There are numerous cases where an adjective does not take an -e ending
where you would expect one according to the rules above:
(a) Adjectives ending in -en, which includes materials (e.g. open ‘open’,
eigen ‘own’, houten ‘wooden’, zilveren ‘silver’) and strong past
participles (e.g. gesloten ‘closed’, vertrokken ‘departed’, opgeblazen
‘blown up’). Exception: verscheidene ‘several’ always takes -e. When
adjectival past participles ending in -en are used as nouns, they take -e
(-en in plural), e.g. de betrokkene ‘the person affected’, volwassene
‘the adult’, etc.
(b) A limited number of adjectives do not take -e but are affixed to the
following noun instead (see 9.8.5).
(c) Some adjectives of foreign origin are indeclinable: beige, crème, gratis,
lila, nylon, oranje, plastic, platina, aluminium, roze ‘pink’.
(d) Adjectives derived from place names in -er: Groninger koek,
Leeuwarder Courant.
(e) Comparatives of more than three syllables are commonly left
uninflected (see 9.2.2).
(f) A few adjectives take on a figurative meaning if uninflected: oudsoldaat
‘ex-soldier’, een groot man ‘a great man’, een jong dichter ‘an
up and coming poet’ (see (h) below).
(g) The adjectives rechts and links have their own peculiar attributive
form in -er and are often written together with the noun, particularly
when referring to parts of the body and items of clothing: de
rechterhand ‘the right hand’, de linkerschoen ‘the left shoe’, also de
linkeroever ‘the left bank’ (of a river), de rechterkant ‘the right(-hand)
side’, de linkerzijde ‘the left(-hand) side’. Preceding other nouns they
behave as normal adjectives: het rechtse verkeer ‘traffic from the right’,
de linkse partijen ‘the left-wing parties’.
(h) It is very common for adjectives preceding nouns referring to human
beings (particularly masculine beings indicating a profession or
function) to be left uninflected after articles. You are advised only to
copy those you have heard or read and otherwise to apply the ending,
e.g. de waarnemend burgemeester ‘the acting mayor’, de tijdelijk
Rules for
inflection
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