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Indefinite pronouns: een / ene and ander / andere

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A pronoun replaces a noun or another pronoun. E.g. 'he', 'which', or 'her'. There are different types of pronouns: personal, possessive, indefinite, relative... You can post your questions about Dutch pronouns here.

Indefinite pronouns: een / ene and ander / andere

Postby Bieneke » August 11th, 2005, 9:36 pm

"De een zegt: Heer of Here of Heere, de ander zegt weer God. Of grote Vriend of Vader." ik denk dat het moet zijn: "de andere zegt "

"Een" gets an extra -e at the end if:

- it precedes a noun (whether a het or a de noun)
- it refers to a noun that is omitted

In your example, "de een" and "de ander" both stand alone, they do not precede or refer to a noun. Used in this way, they do not get an extra '-e' at the end.

Compare:

De een houdt van spruitjes, de ander van zuurkool
Some like brussels sprouts, others like sauerkraut

Het ene kind houdt van spruitjes, het andere van zuurkool
Some children like brussels sprouts, others like sauerkraut

De ene leerkracht is heel streng, de andere juist heel makkelijk.
Some teachers are very strict, others are very easy-going.

As you can see, we use "ene" (not "een") when it precedes a noun (regardless of whether it is a de or het noun). In the second part of the phrase, the noun is omitted but it is clear that "andere" refers to resp. 'children' and 'teachers'.
Last edited by Bieneke on May 23rd, 2006, 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Bieneke
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Indefinite pronouns: een / ene and ander / andere

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Postby Merijn » May 23rd, 2006, 9:34 pm

No, it is absolutely "de ander", funny as it seams, if you say "de andere" it'll seam as if you're referring to an object instead of a person. At least in this case... :)

I know, at moments like these you wonder: Why on earth did I start learing Dutch? ;)

Merijn
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Postby Bieneke » May 23rd, 2006, 10:32 pm

Hoi Merijn,

I agree that the correct sentence is "De een zegt: Heer of Here of Heere, de ander zegt weer God. Of grote Vriend of Vader" but I already said that in my post (I changed the relevant remark to bold print). The examples where we do use 'andere' were mentioned to explain the use of 'ander(e)' further but this may be a bit confusing rather than clarifying. Yes, I sometimes feel sorry for people who have to learn these rules. ;-)
Bieneke
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Bieneke
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Location: Maastricht
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Second language: English
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