Grammatica - loco

8
Pronouns
72
distinguish singular from plural gij, is very rarely encountered in
older texts.
(d) Use of jullie:
For the use of jullie as the plural of u see 8.1.1 (c). The origin of this
form is jelie(den) (i.e. you people) and is often found as jelui (stress on
second syllable) in some older literary works. Jullie has several direct
equivalents in colloquial English, i.e. ‘youse’, ‘you all’, ‘you guys’, ‘the
two/three of you’ etc.
8.1.2.2
The object pronouns hen and hun
Historically there is no distinction between hen and hun. The two were
originally simply phonetic variants of the one word predominating in
separate dialects. The distinction made between the two in present-day
written ABN is an artificial one imposed upon the language by early
grammarians. The artificiality of the distinction is reflected in Dutch speech
today where hardly anybody uses the two according to the rules prescribed.
It should be noted, however, that the Dutch always use hun where grammar
strictly speaking demands hen, a form which is actually seldom used in
the spoken language. In writing one should attempt to use them correctly,
as to do otherwise suggests one is illiterate, whereas to use hen in everyday
speech sounds pedantic.
The official rule is: hen is the direct object and is also used after prepositions
whereas hun is the indirect object, the only personal pronoun to have a
separate dative form. (Note: hun is also a possessive, see 8.2.)
but
Hij heeft hen later in de stad gezien. (direct object)
He later saw them in town.
Ik heb de informatie aan hen gegeven. (after a preposition)
I gave the information to them.
Ik heb hun de informatie gegeven. (indirect object)
The distinction is similar to the following in English:
I gave the information to them. (aan hen)
I gave them the information. (hun)
One is well advised in all the above cases to use ze if one is in doubt, but
ze can of course only be used as an unemphatic pronoun: