Grammatica - loco

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of all ages, but the student normally says u to his teachers, although
individual teachers may have a preference for mutual use of first
names and thus jij. Young people of comparable age often call each
other jij even if they are unacquainted and university students or
members of a club will automatically say jij to each other; in such
cases it is an expression of solidarity and equality.
Generally speaking, however, knowing exactly who to say jij to, or
when in an u relationship it is appropriate to start saying jij, is a
matter of feeling and is not an issue that even the Dutch are always
comfortable with.
The following are two common ways of suggesting to your
interlocutor that you have no objection to them calling you jij:
Zeg maar je! Say jij to me.
Ik heet Piet/Joke. My name is Piet/Joke. (in other words,
use my first name and thus also jij)
It is usual for the older of the two or the one of higher social
standing (e.g. the boss at work or the teacher at school) to suggest
using the familiar form of address. Generally speaking it can be said
that if you know someone well enough to address them by their
given name, jij is required, whereas if you still address them as
mevrouw or meneer, u is the required form.
(c) Use of gij:
In Belgium gij (unemphatic ge) commonly replaces jij, but the latter is
becoming increasingly popular as the south begins to follow the north
more and more in linguistic matters. Dialectally gij is also used in the
plural. The object and possessive forms of gij are u and uw
respectively. Gij/u is thus used in Belgium in much the same way as
‘you’ is in English, i.e. for both singular and plural as well as for
familiar and polite address.
Note: Historically this form is older than jij and u and for this
reason it was the standard written form for centuries, even in
Holland, while in Flanders it never died out. It is this form that was
used in the seventeenth-century States Translation of the Bible and
thus, if it is used in the north at all, it usually has a biblical
connotation. Gij has the same ring about it to the Dutch as ‘thou’
to the English. Gij has its own specific form of the verb: ge zijt, ge
waart, ge zoudt (see 11.1.1, footnote 1), i.e. old plural forms. An
even more antiquated form, gijlieden, a plural form used to clearly
Personal
pronouns
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