-tje

See also: t. je

Dutch

Etymology

From earlier -tjen, from Middle Dutch -kijn, from Old Dutch -kīn, which is the ancestor of the suffixes -ke, -ken, -tje (and its subvarieties: -je, -etje, -pje, -kje) and Afrikaans -tjie ([ci]). All forms descend from the Proto-West Germanic *-ikīn, *-ukīn, itself a double diminutive produced by combining Proto-West Germanic *-ik, *-uk + *-īn. The change from k to tj is the result of a palatalization of -kijn in North Holland in the 13th or 14th century.^[1] Cf. also German -chen, English -kin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tjə/, [t͡ɕə], [cə], [çə]^[2]

• Audio:

  (file)

Suffix

-tje n (plural -tjes)

1. Appended to a noun (or occasionally another part of speech), making it diminutive.

Usage notes

• The use of this suffix is very productive in Dutch and has led to the creation of quite a few lexicalized forms, i.e. the diminutive has acquired a meaning of its own.
• Sometimes attached to given names, yielding two possible outcomes:
  • A hypocoristic given name of the same gender, such as Brammetje (from Bram), Jantje (from Jan) or Marietje (from Marie).
  • A feminine name derived from a masculine name. Examples include Guusje, Geertje, both feminine names, deriving from the masculine names Guus and Geert respectively.
• Informally, this suffix may be attached to adjectives to yield a noun that is not necessarily diminutive, but has derogatory and/or familiar connotations: e.g.s slimpie (“smart person”) from slim (“smart”), gekkie (“crazy person, oddball”) from gek (“crazy”), bijdehandje (“smart alec”) from bijdehand (“smart, pedantic”) and jonkie (“young 'un”) from jong (“young”).
• When added to derogatory nouns, it often imparts a stronger dismissive charge: e.g. sukkeltje, luxepaardje, mongooltje, trutje.
• The suffix takes different variant forms according to the stress and final consonant or vowel of the root it is added to. This is mostly due to assimilation of the suffix to the previous consonant. Note that in each case, the actual sound that the word has matters, not the letter(s). Loanwords that retain a silent -e therefore behave as though they ended with the letter before it.
  • -je is added to words ending in:
    • A fricative or plosive (-b, -c, -d, -f, -g, -ch, -k, -p, -q, -s, -sj, -t, -v, -x, -z)
    • Examples: briefje, hokje, visje, doucheje (final sound is -sj), raceje (final sound is -s)
  • -etje is added to words ending in:
    • A stressed short vowel followed by a sonorant (-l, -m, -n, -ng, -r).
    • Examples: pilletje, lammetje, bloemetje (also bloempje as the vowel was originally long), mannetje, vriendinnetje, dingetje, torretje
  • -tje is added to words ending in either:
    • A stressed long vowel or diphthong or any unstressed vowel (-a, -e, -i, -o, -u, -y), or:
    • the above, followed by a sonorant except m or ng (-l, -n, -r).
    • Examples: vrouwtje, autootje, kuiltje, appeltje, maantje
  • -pje is added to words ending in:
    • A stressed long vowel or diphthong or any unstressed vowel followed by m
    • Examples: boompje, duimpje, bloempje (also bloemetje as the vowel has since become short), bodempje
  • -kje is added to words ending in:
    • A stressed long vowel or diphthong or any unstressed vowel followed by ng
    • The -g is removed, so that the resulting word ends in -nkje.
    • Examples: koninkje, houdinkje
• In informal speech, -ie, -pie and -kie may be used instead of -je, -pje and -kje. This substitution is mandatory in a number of words, particularly in diminutives derived from an adjectival base (such as gekkie, jonkie, and so forth).

Derived terms

• -tjes

Dutch diminutive nouns

Related terms

• -ke
• -ken

Descendants

• Afrikaans: -tjie

References

1. A. van Loey, "Schönfeld's Historische Grammatica van het Nederlands", Zutphen, 8. druk, 1970, →ISBN; § 186
2. Collins, Beverley, Mees, Inger M. (2003) The Phonetics of English and Dutch, 5th edition, Brill Publishers, →ISBN, page 193