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Definition 2024


-tje

-tje

See also: t. je

Dutch

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.

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.

Derived terms

<a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs14 CategoryTreeLabelCategory' href='/wiki/Category:Dutch_diminutive_nouns'>Dutch diminutive nouns</a>

Related terms

References

  1. A. van Loey, "Schönfeld's Historische Grammatica van het Nederlands", Zutphen, 8. druk, 1970, ISBN 90-03-21170-1; § 186