Introduction to Adjectives and The Exercise

Adverbs inform about verbs; adjectives inform about nouns.
Adverbs are the 'root' form you'll find in dictionaries and words lists; adjectives in most positions have an -E ending.

De deur is dicht

2
De dichte deur

The door is closed
The closed door

Adjectives for singular 'het-words' after 'een' (a) - 'geen' (no, not a, zero quantity) or no article do not get the ‑E ending - other exceptions below

het lelijke eendje

geen lelijk eendje

the ugly duckling
not an ugly duckling

de appel is groen
de groene appel
een groene appel
het groene appeltje
een groen appeltje
hear

The apple is green
the green apple
a green apple
the little green apple
a little green apple

de lange man
een lange man
het lange boek
een lang boek
de baby slaapt lang
hear

the tall man
a tall man
the long book
a long book
the baby sleeps long (for a long time)

To The Adjectives Exercises: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

1. The Spelling Rules

A double vowel before a single consonant at the end of a word will become a single vowel when an ‑E ending is added

rood / rode
geel / gele red
yellow
A single consonant after a single vowel at the end of a word will become a double consonant when an ‑E ending is added

wit / witte white
No changes for adjectives with diphthongs (AU, OU, EI, IJ, EU, OE, UI) or IE in the last syllable of a word when an ‑E ending is added

groen / groene
blauw / blauwe green
blue
No changes to adjectives ending in two or more consonants when an ‑E ending is added

zwart / zwarte 2
paars / paarse 2 black
purple

2. Exceptions and Irregularities

Adjectives ending in single E or single E‑N do not add an ‑E (many past participles have an ‑EN ending)

oranje
roze
vergeten
houten 2
gouden
ijzeren 2
glazen orange
pink
forgotten
wooden
golden
iron
glass

de open deur 2 3
the open door
Adding an ‑E ending brings no further changes to adjectives with 'voiceless, unstressed E' in the last syllable

mager / magere 2
enkel / enkele 2 skinny, thin (think of 'meager')
single, 'one,' a few
The -IG ending sounds like 'voiceless, unstressed E' and likewise does not double the ending consonant when the ‑E is added

veilig / veilige
vorig / vorige 2
zuinig zuinige 2 safe
previous
frugal
Some adjectives with a long vowel or a diphthong in the last syllable and ending in F or S will change to V or Z (in English this switch is seen with F/V in plurals, like in life/lives) - more

lief / lieve
grijs / grijze dear, sweet
grey

To The Adjectives Exercises: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

3. The Why

The sound of the adjectives' vowel doesn't change, but the spelling of the word may change because of the ‑E ending.

Dutch vowels can be 'long' or 'short.' It's a traditional name - the difference is actually more a matter of tone.

short A long A	short E long E
	'voiceless E' ('schwa')

short I

long I (IE)

short O

long O

short U

long U

Dutch spelling and pronunciation rules say that

a single vowel is 'short' when followed by a consonant at the end of a syllable or a word
a single vowel at the end of a syllable or word is 'long'
except a single E at the end of a word which is almost always 'voiceless, unstressed' (schwa)
Double vowels are always 'long'

hel / helle (hel-le)

2
heel / hele (he-le)

glaring, painfully bright
complete

An (imperfect) rule of thumb:

a single vowel before two or more consonants is short
a single vowel before a consonant that's the end of the word is short
a single vowel before one consonant that's followed by another vowel is long
(this works somewhat like English 'silent E')
a single vowel at the end of the word is long (except E which is 'voiceless' in that position)

I've written about this many times before

Some common Dutch nouns have a vowel change in the plural, for instance glas/glazen ('glass/glasses') but (het) glas 2 ('glass') is only the noun, while glazen is both the plural '(drinking) glasses' and the adjective 'glass.' I can't think of an adjective that has a vowel change.

4. Rare Exceptions and Irregularities

UW is always long

ruw 2 / ruwe
sluw / sluwe rough
sly, cunning
Double vowels followed by I remain double vowels

mooi / mooie
saai / saaie 2 beautiful, pretty
boring, not exciting
Adjectives ending in a diphthong just add E, and the syllable break is after the diphthong (this is not irregular or an exception but I mention it for clarity)

blij / blije (blij-e)
lui / luie (lui-e) happy, glad
lazy
(Very rare) Adjectives ending in double E add an E with diaeresis (E-trema) to indicate the syllable break

gedwee / gedweeë 2
wee / weeë 2 docile, pliable
nauseating

The -ISCH

and the -LIJK

endings are regular for the ‑E ending, but as you can hear, ISCH is pronounced EES (Dutch IES) and the syllable break is after the I, and the IJ in -LIJK sounds like 'voiceless, unstressed E.'

tragisch / tragische 2 (tra-gisch / tra-gi-sche)	tragic
automatisch / automatische elektrisch / elektrische vriendelijk / vriendelijke duidelijk / duidelijke 2	automatic electric friendly clear, easy to understand

To The Adjectives Exercises: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - More Exercises

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Don't be a dief (thief) / dievegge (female thief) - diefstal (theft) - stelen (to steal) - heler (dealer in stolen goods) - hear Dutch - 2