Grammatica - loco

7
Nouns
Exceptions: nouns of Greek origin ending in -graaf: fotograaf
‘photographer’ – fotografen, paragraaf ‘paragraph’ – paragrafen,
filosoof ‘philosopher’ – filosofen
(e) Nouns ending in -lf and -rf change the f to v:
golf ‘wave’ – golven, wolf ‘wolf’ – wolven, werf ‘wharf’ – werven
Exception: elf ‘elf’ – elfen
(f) Nouns containing a short vowel and ending in a consonant double
the consonant to preserve the short vowel:
bok ‘billy-goat’ – bokken, fles ‘bottle’ – flessen, hor ‘wire-screen’ –
horren, mus ‘sparrow’ – mussen, pot ‘pot’ – potten, straf
‘punishment’ – straffen, stuk ‘piece’ – stukken 9
Note: The two stressed feminine endings -es and -in belong here,
e.g. boerin ‘farmer’s wife’ – boerinnen, lerares ‘female teacher’ –
leraressen.
(g) Nouns ending in -ee add -ën:
orchidee ‘orchid’ – orchideeën, zee ‘sea’ – zeeën
Exceptions: words still regarded as French, e.g. soiree ‘party’ –
soirees. Also the Latin word dominee ‘reverend’ – dominees.
7.2.2.2
There is a group of very common nouns that have a short vowel
in the singular but a long vowel in the plural
These are nouns which one would expect to find under (f) above which
do not double the consonant as the vowel is pronounced long.
Common gender
dag day dagen
god god goden
hertog duke hertogen
hof court, yard hoven
oorlog war oorlogen
slag blow, battle slagen
48 9 Stuks occurs too but with the meaning of items, e.g. Ik heb tien stuks gekocht ‘I
bought ten (pencils, balls etc.)’.