West Frisian grammar

The grammar of the West Frisian language, a West Germanic language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland (Fryslân) in the north of the Netherlands, is similar to other West Germanic languages, most notably Dutch. West Frisian is more analytic than its ancestor language Old Frisian, largely abandoning the latter's case system. It features two genders and inflects nouns in the singular and plural numbers.

Verbs inflect for person, number, mood, and tense, though many forms are formed using periphrastic constructions. There are two conjugations of weak verbs, in addition to strong and irregular verbs.

Nouns

Gender

In West Frisian there are two grammatical genders for nouns: the common gender (de-words), and the neuter gender (it-words).^[1]^[2] All plural nouns and common singular nouns take the definite article de, while singular neuter nouns take the definite article it. Regardless of gender, all nouns take the indefinite article in.

	Common	Neuter
Definite singular	de	it
Definite plural	de
Indefinite singular	in

Number

West Frisian nouns inflect for two numbers: singular and plural. There are two productive suffixes used to form the plural: "-(e)n" and "-s". The suffix "-(e)n" is used for nouns in which the final syllable is stressed. The suffix "-s" is appended to plural nouns that end (in the singular) with unstressed syllables "-el", "-em", "-en", "-er", "-ert", "-ier", "-mer", "-ter", "-ster", "-sje". It also appears after the diminutive suffixes "-je", "-ke", and "-tsje", or as "-'s" at the end of many borrowed words.^[3]

wurd "word" → wurden
boarne "source" → boarnen
doar "door" → doarren
see "sea" → seeën
hoekje "little hook" → hoekjes
skrapke "comma" → skrapkes
provinsje "province" → provinsjes
tv "TV" → tv's

In rare cases, usually with nouns that generally come in pairs, a "double plural" is used, where both suffixes appear.

reed "skate" → redens
lears "boot" → learzens

A few nouns have irregular plural forms:

bern "child" → bern
skiep "sheep" → skiep
ko "cow" → kij
skoech "shoe" → skuon
dei "day" → dagen
wei "way" → wegen
lid "member" → leden
âlder "parent, elder" → âlden
man "man" → manlju
frou "woman" → froulju

Diminutive

In West Frisian, there are three productive diminutive suffixes: "-je", "-ke", and "-tsje". The first of these three is used with nouns that end with the sounds /x/, /ɣ/, /k/ and /ŋ/, "-tsje" with nouns that end with /d/, /l/, /n/ and /t/, and "-ke" with all other sounds.

stik "piece" → stikje
esk "ash (tree)" → eskje
bult "pile" → bultsje
hart "deer" → hartsje
aai "egg" → aike
hynder "horse" → hynderke

All nouns that are derived as diminutives are neuter and take the ending "-s" when pluralizing.

Case

Old Frisian's system of four grammatical cases (nominative, genitive, dative and accusative) has not survived in modern West Frisian. The only remainder of the old declension system is the genitive case suffix "-s", which is used to denote possession.^[4]

The genitive form may be "-(e)" or "-(e)s".

The ending "-(e)" ("-e" or zero) is used with monosyllabic nouns ending with a consonant or the vowel "-e". Also, it may be used with kinship terms and some plural nouns, mostly in idiomatic, fixed expressions: Ruerde mêm "Ruerd's mom", memme mûs "mom's mouse", fammene pronkjen "the girls' talk".

In most other cases, the "-(e)s" ending is used: har mans bern "her man's child(ren)", Fryslâns wâlden "Friesland's forests".

In the spoken language, genitive forms are rare and are normally replaced by analytical constructions with the preposition "fan (of)" or a possessive pronoun: de heit fan Anneke "Anneke's father", Anneke har heit (-//-, lit. "Anneke her father").^{[citation needed]}

Adjectives

Inflected forms

Adjectives in West Frisian have a "base" and "inflected" form. The inflected form consists of the base form of the adjective and the suffix "-e". Adjectives are inflected when they are used in pronominal position before a definitely articulated neuter noun, any plural noun, or any common noun.

	Common		Neuter
	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	Inflected	Inflected	Inflected	Uninflected
Plural	Inflected	Inflected	Inflected	Inflected

De wite kat "the white cat" (common, singular, definite)

It lytse famke "the little girl" (neuter, singular, definite)

In lyts famke "a little girl" (neuter, singular, indefinite)

Comparative and superlative

There are three degrees of adjectives: positive, comparative, and superlative. The positive is the base form of the adjective, the comparative degree is formed with the suffix "-er", and the superlative degree is formed with the suffix "-ste" and the definite article.^[5] If the base form of the adjective ends in /r/ or sometimes /l/ or /n/, then there is an obligatory /d/ inserted before the comparative suffix "-er". Thus, the degrees for the adjective fyn "fine" look as such:

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
fyn	fynder	de/it fynste

The comparative and superlative forms can also be formed with the words mear and meast, though this is far rarer than in English and usually only occurs in adjectives that would be hard to pronounce if formed regularly or already end in "-er" or "-st". Also rarely, an even higher superlative degree can be formed with the prefix "alder-" alongside the suffix "-ste", as in the phrase de aldergrutst "the very biggest".

Verbs

West Frisian verbs inflect for person, number, tense, and mood.

There are only two inflected tenses, present and past. Other tenses are formed using auxiliary and modal verbs.

There are also only two moods, indicative and imperative, with the imperative only being used in the second person.

There are 3 groups of verbs: weak, strong and irregular verbs. Strong verbs are those that change to past tense with ablaut, or a change in the vowel stem. Weak verbs follow one of two paradigms, depending on whether their ending is "-e" or "-je".

Weak -e verbs

	-e infinitive: pakk¹e				-n infinitive: pakken
	Present tense				Past tense
person	singular		plural		singular		plural
1st	ik	pak	wy	pakk¹e	ik	pakt²e	wy	pakt²en
2nd	do/dû	pakst	jimme		do/dû	pakt²est	jimme
3rd	hy/sy/it	pakt	hja		hy/sy/it	pakt²e	hja
	Present participle		Imperative		Auxiliary		Past participle
	pakk¹end		pak		hawwe		pakt²

¹ If necessary a consonant at the end of the stem is doubled to avoid a change of the pronunciation of the preceding syllable.
² An unvoiced consonant at the end of the stem takes an unvoiced dental suffix; a voiced consonant takes a voiced dental.

Weak -je verbs

	-e infinitive: wurkje				-n infinitive: wurkjen
	Present tense				Past tense
person	singular		plural		singular		plural
1st	ik	wurkje	wy	wurkje	ik	wurke	wy	wurken
2nd	do/dû	wurkest	jimme		do/dû	wurkest	jimme
3rd	hy/sy/it	wurket	hja		hy/sy/it	wurke	hja
	Present participle		Imperative		Auxiliary		Past participle
	wurkjend		wurkje		hawwe		wurke

Irregular verbs

Hawwe – To Have

	-e infinitive: hawwe				-n infinitive: hawwen
	Present tense				Past tense
person	singular		plural		singular		plural
1st	ik	ha	wy	hawwe	ik	hie	wy	hienen
2nd	do/dû	hast	jimme		do/dû	hiest	jimme
3rd	hy/sy/it	hat	hja		hy/sy/it	hie	hja
	Present participle		Imperative		Auxiliary		Past participle
	hawwend		haw		hawwe		hân

Wêze – To Be

	-e infinitive: wêze				-n infinitive: wêzen
	Present tense				Past tense
person	singular		plural		singular		plural
1st	ik	bin	wy	binne	ik	wie	wy	wienen
2nd	do/dû	bist	jimme		do/dû	wiest	jimme
3rd	hy/sy/it	is	hja		hy/sy/it	wie	hja
	Present participle		Imperative		Auxiliary		Past participle
	wêzend		wês		hawwe		west

Gean – To Go

	infinitive: gean
	Present tense				Past tense
person	singular		plural		singular		plural
1st	ik	gean	wy	geane	ik	gie, gong, gyng	wy	gienen, gongen, gyngen
2nd	do/dû	giest	jimme		do/dû	giest, gongst, gyngst	jimme
3rd	hy/sy/it	giet	hja		hy/sy/it	gie, gong, gyng	hja
	Present participle		Imperative		Auxiliary		Past participle
	geanend		gean		wêze		gien, gongen

References

^ Dyk, Siebren. "Gender". Taalportaal.org. Taalportaal. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
^ Hoesktra, J; Visser, W (1996-12-01). "De- en it-wurden yn it Frysk". Us Wurk. 45 (3–4): 55–78. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
^ Dyk, Siebren. "Number". Taalportaal.org. Taalportaal. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
^ Dyk, Siebren; Hayen, Hauke. "Taalportaal". taalportaal.org. Taalportaal. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
^ Dyk, Siebren. "Degree". taalportaal.org. Taalportaal. Retrieved 6 June 2019.

Popkema, J. 2006. Grammatica Fries. De regels van het Fries. Utrecht: Het Spectrum.
Munske, Horst Haider. 2001. Handbuch des Friesischen (Handbook of Frisian Studies). Tübingen: Niemeyer. xiv+845pp.
Tiersma, Pieter Meijes. 1999. Frisian Reference Grammar. Fryske Akademy. 162pp.
Hoekstra, Jarich Freark. 1997. The syntax of infinitives in Frisian. Leeuwarden: Fryske Akademy. v+169pp. (zugl.: Groningen, Univ., Diss., 1997).
Tiersma, P.M. 1985. Frisian Reference Grammar. Dordrecht: Foris Publications. xii+157pp.
de Boer, B. 1950. Studie over het Dialect van Hindeloopen. Assen: Van Gorcum. 196pp.
Sipma, Pieter. 1913. Phonology & grammar of modern West Frisian; with phonetic texts and glossary. Oxford University Press. 194pp.

[Taalportaal_|_Gender-1] Dyk, Siebren. "Gender". Taalportaal.org. Taalportaal. Retrieved 25 January 2019.

[De-_en_it-wurden_yn_it_Frysk-2] Hoesktra, J; Visser, W (1996-12-01). "De- en it-wurden yn it Frysk". Us Wurk. 45 (3–4): 55–78. Retrieved 29 May 2019.

[Taalportaal_|_Number-3] Dyk, Siebren. "Number". Taalportaal.org. Taalportaal. Retrieved 25 January 2019.

[Taalportaal_|_Case-4] Dyk, Siebren; Hayen, Hauke. "Taalportaal". taalportaal.org. Taalportaal. Retrieved 29 May 2019.

[5] Dyk, Siebren. "Degree". taalportaal.org. Taalportaal. Retrieved 6 June 2019.

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