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Definition 2024
z'n
z'n
Dutch
Determiner
z'n
- (possessive) Contracted form of zijn.
Usage notes
- This contracted form is seen chiefly in informal writing. Otherwise the full form zijn is written out even though the pronunciation is that of z’n.
- However, the spelling z’n is used in formal writing in a few fixed expressions, such as met z’n drieën (“involving a group of three people”), or op z’n hoogst (“at most”). In these phrases, z’n does not have the meaning of an actual possessive adjective.
Inflection
Dutch personal pronouns
| subject | object | possessive | reflexive | genitive5 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | full | unstr. | full | unstr. | full | unstr. | pred. | ||
| 1st person | ik | 'k1 | mij | me | mijn | m'n1 | mijne | me | mijner |
| 2nd person | jij | je | jou | je | jouw | je | jouwe | je | jouwer |
| 2nd person archaic or regiolectal | gij | ge | u | – | uw | – | uwe | u | uwer |
| 2nd person formal | u | – | u | – | uw | – | uwe | zich | uwer |
| 3rd person masculine | hij | ie1 | hem | 'm1 | zijn | z'n1 | zijne | zich | zijner |
| 3rd person feminine | zij | ze | haar | h'r1, 'r1, d'r1 | haar | h'r1, 'r1, d'r1 | hare | zich | harer |
| 3rd person neuter | het | 't1 | het | 't1 | zijn | z'n1 | zijne | zich | zijner |
| plural | |||||||||
| 1st person | wij | we | ons | – | ons, onze2 | – | onze | ons | onzer |
| 2nd person | jullie | je | jullie | je | jullie | je | – | je | – |
| 2nd person archaic or regiolectal6 | gij | ge | u | – | uw | – | uwe | u | uwer |
| 2nd person formal | u | – | u | – | uw | – | uwe | zich | uwer |
| 3rd person | zij | ze | hen3, hun4 | ze | hun | – | hunne | zich | hunner |
| 1) Not as common in written language. 2) Inflected as an adjective. 3) In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). 4) In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative). |
5)Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. 6) To differentiate from the singular gij, and in a similar vein to "you lot" or "you guys" in English, it is common to use gijlui ("you people") or gijlieden ("you people") or one of their contracted variants, and their corresponding objects, possessives and reflexives, in the plural. |
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Jersey Dutch
Etymology
From Old Dutch sīn (originally a reflexive form), from Proto-Germanic *sīnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *seyno-, ultimately a form of the reflexive pronoun *swe.
Pronoun
z'n