Plattdüütsch/Grammar

In this page we will be looking at a number of features of Plattdüütsch grammar.

Parts of Speech

In the following sections we will see the outline for the verbal, nominal, pronominal and possessive morphology of Plattdüütsch. There are more than 8 grammar points, so please

Verbs

In the three tables below we can see the inflectional forms of Plattdüütsch verbs in the present and simple past (Preterite).

Weak Verb /maaken/ ("make")

	Present	Preterite
1st sing.	Maaken<v><pres><p1><sg> ↔ Maak	Maaken<v><past><p1><sg> ↔ Maak
2nd sing.	Maaken<v><pres><p2><sg> ↔ Maakst	Maaken<v><past><p2><sg> ↔ Maakst
3rd sing.	Maaken<v><pres><p3><sg> ↔ Maakt	Maaken<v><past><p3><sg> ↔ Maak
Pl.	Maaken<v><pres><pl> ↔ Maakt	Maaken<v><pres><pl> ↔ Maken

Strong Verb /helpen/ ("help")

	Present	Preterite
1st sing.	Helpen<v><pres><p1><sg> ↔ Help	Helpen<v><past><p1><sg> ↔ Halp
2nd sing.	Helpen<v><pres><p2><sg> ↔ Hilpst	Helpen<v><past><p1><sg> ↔ Hülpst
3rd sing.	Helpen<v><pres><p3><sg> ↔ Hilpt	Helpen<v><past><p3><sg> ↔ Halp
Pl.	Helpen<v><pres><pl> ↔ Helpt	Helpen<v><past><pl> ↔ Hülpen

Strong Verb Arven ("Inherit")

	Present	Preterite
1st sing.	Arven<v><pres><p1><sg> ↔ Arv	Arven<v><past><p1><sg> ↔ Arv
2nd sing.	Arven<v><pres><p2><sg> ↔ Arvst	Arven<v><pres><p12><sg> ↔ Arv
3rd sing.	Arven<v><pres><p3><sg> ↔ Arvt	Arven<v><past><p3><sg> ↔ Arv
Pl.	Arven<v><pres><pl> ↔ Arven}	Arven<v><pres><pl> ↔ Arvt

Nouns

In the following we can see the various forms of plural morphology that exist for Plattdüütsch.

Plurals

In some plural forms as shown below, long verbs in the root can be shortened, root-final nd can become n or nn, and root-final voiceless consonants can become voiced.

-er

Wief<n><nt><pl> ↔ Wievers

Wicht<n><nt><pl> ↔ Wichter

Lief<n><nt><pl> ↔ Lievers

-en

Hann<n><gd><pl> ↔ Hannen

Wier<n><gd><pl> ↔ Wieren

Döör<n><gd><pl> ↔ Döören

Oog<n><nt><pl> ↔ Oogen

-s

Macker<n><gd><pl> ↔ Mackers

Vagel<n><gd><pl> ↔ Vagels

Kaptein<n><m><pl> ↔ Kapteins

-e

Dag<n><gd><pl> ↔ Dage

Umlaut

Worm<n><gd><pl> ↔ Wörm
Boom<n><gd><pl> ↔ Bööm
Danz<n><gd><pl> ↔ Dänz

Umlaut + -er

Dorp<n><gd><pl> ↔ Dörper

Book<n><gd><pl> ↔ Böker

Umlaut + loss of final d

Hand<n><gd><nom><pl> ↔ Hen
Band<n><gd><nom><pl> ↔ Ben
Hund<n><gd><nom><pl> ↔ Hün

No change

Wapen<n><gd><pl> ↔ Wapen
Swyn<n><gd><pl> ↔ Swyn
Knee<n><gd><pl> ↔ Knee

Adjectives

In the following you can see an overview of the adjectival forms of Plattdeutsch. Tagging TBD.

Regular Adjectives

Indefinite adjective endings (North Low Saxon)

m	f	n
-en (sing.), -e (pl.)	-e	-

Definite adjective endings (North Low Saxon)

m	f	n	pl
-e (nom.), -en (obl.)	-e	-e	-en

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns (North Low Saxon)

	1st sg	1st pl	2nd sg	2nd pl	3rd sg	3rd pl (and 2nd formal)
Nom.	ik	wi	du	ji	he (m), se (f), it (n)	se
Obl.	mi	us	di	ju	em, er, it	em

Possessive Pronouns (North Low Saxon)

1st sg	1st pl	2nd sg	2nd pl	3rd sg	3rd pl (and 2nd formal)
mien	us	dien	juw/joon/juun	sien (m/n), e(h)r (f)	e(h)r

Tagged Possessive Pronouns (North Low Saxon)

1st sg	1st pl	2nd sg	2nd pl	2nd formal	3rd sg m/nt	3rd sg f	3rd pl
ik<prn><sg><pos><p1> ↔ mien	ik<prn><pl><pos><p1> ↔ us	du<prn><sg><pos><p2><infml> ↔ dien	du<prn><pl><pos><p2><infml> ↔ juw	du<prn><sg><pos><p2><frm> ↔ ehr	he<prn><sg><pos><p3><m/nt> ↔ sien	he<prn><sg><pos><p3><f> ↔ ehr	he<prn><sg><pos><p3><gd> ↔ ehr

We can see for the first person pronouns that there are two distinctions to note, oblique-ness and plurality.

1st person Pronoun 'ik' (North Low Saxon)

	1st sg.	1st pl.
Nom.	ik<prn><nom><pers><p1><sg> ↔ ik	ik<prn>}<nom><pers><p1><pl> ↔ wi
Obl.	ik<prn><obl><pers><p1><sg> ↔ mi	ik<prn><obl><pers><p1><pl> ↔ us

2nd person Pronoun 'du' (North Low Saxon)

	2nd sg.	2nd pl.	2nd. frm
Nom.	du<prn><nom><pers><p2><sg><infml> ↔ du	du<prn><nom><pers><p2><pl><infml> ↔ ji	du<prn><nom><pers><p2><sg/pl><frm> ↔ se
Obl.	du<prn><obl><pers><p2><sg><infml> ↔ di	du<prn><obl><pers><p2><pl><infml> ↔ ju	du<prn><obl><pers><p2><sg/pl><frm> ↔ em

3rd person Pronoun 'he' (North Low Saxon)

	3rd sg. m.	3rd sg. f.	3rd sg. m.	3rd pl.
Nom.	he<prn><nom><pers><p3><m><sg> ↔ he	he<prn><nom><pers><p3><f><sg> ↔ se	he<prn><nom><pers><p3><nt><sg> ↔ it	he<prn><nom><pers><p3><gd><pl> ↔ se
Obl.	he<prn><obl><pers><p3><m><sg> ↔ em	he<prn><obl><pers><p3><f><sg> ↔ er	he<prn><obl><pers><p3><nt><sg> ↔ it	he<prn><obl><pers><p3><gd><pl> ↔ em

Determiners

Articles (North Low Saxon)

	m	f/pl	n
Nom.	de	de	dat
Acc.	(d)en	de	(d)en
Dat.	(d)en	de	dat

In Plattdüütsch determiners take on gender and case markings, as can be seen in the table above. In the examples below we can see how we handle dative.

de<det><m><dat><sg> ↔ den

de<det><nt><dat><sg> ↔ dat

In the following we can see that Plattdüütsch uses a 'vun'+nomDet form for genitive clauses.

de<det><m><gen><sg> ↔ vun den

de<det><nt><gen><sg> ↔ vun dat

de<det><nt><gen><sg> ↔ vun dat

de<det><m><gen><pl> ↔ vun de

Accusative:

de<det><nt><acc><sg> ↔ (d)en

de<det><m><acc><sg> ↔ (d)en

de<det><f><acc><sg> ↔ de

Plurals:

de<det><m><acc><pl> ↔ de

de<det><nt><dat><pl> ↔ de

de<det><f><nom><pl> ↔ de

In the chart below we can see what every variation of this looks like in Plattdüütsch.

Tagged Articles (North Low Saxon)

	m	f	pl	nt
Nom.	: de<det><m><nom><sg> ↔ de	: de<det><f><nom><sg> ↔ de	: de<det><gd><nom><pl> ↔ de	: de<det><nt><nom><sg> ↔ dat
Acc.	: de<det><m><acc><sg> ↔ (d)en	: de<det><f><acc><sg> ↔ de	: de<det><gd><acc><pl> ↔ de	: de<det><nt><acc><sg> ↔ (d)en
Dat.	: de<det><m><dat><sg> ↔ (d)en	: de<det><f><dat><sg> ↔ de	: de<det><gd><dat><pl> ↔ de	: de<det><nt><dat><sg> ↔ dat
Gen.	: de<det><m><gen><sg> ↔ vun de	: de<det><f><gen><sg> ↔ vun de	: de<det><gd><gen><pl> ↔ vun de	: de<det><nt><gen><sg> ↔ vun dat