Re: Feminization of plurals?

2009/2/11 René Uittenbogaard <ruittenb@...>

>
> Further loss of the Dutch gender system is going on in the relative
> pronouns:
>
> the originally correct form:
> het meisje dat ik zag
> the.NEUTER girl that.NEUTER I saw
>
> is being replaced by:
> het meisje die ik zag
> the.NEUTER girl that.COMMON I saw
>
> and "die" is used especially with the indefinite article:
> een meisje die ik zag
> a girl that.COMMON I saw
>
> probably influenced by the fact that the indefinite article "een" is
> identical for all genders.
>
> But also for inanimate nouns:
>
> een plan die we hebben gemaakt
> a plan that.COMMON we made
>
> can be heard more and more, even though "plan" is neuter (het plan).
>
>
I guess I don't need to feel that guilty anymore of always getting de/het
and die/dat wrong ;) .

I must say I've not noticed the last one. For people I know, inanimate
neuter nouns are still regarded as very neuter, and they use "het", "dit"
and "dat", never "die", even as relative pronoun.
-- 
Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets.

http://christophoronomicon.blogspot.com/
http://www.christophoronomicon.nl/