What is the difference between jij, je and jou? when is it appropiate to use each one of them?
Is "u" a formal pronom?
How do you conjugate the verbs according to their own pronoms?
and for the Dutch/Belgians who also speak or understand German, are sentences built the same?
Thank you in advance!
The difference between jij, je, and jou
Jij ---> most used with the one you talk to: Ga JIJ morgen ook mee? Are you coming with us?
Je ---> Is almost always the same as jij. Jij is the more written form, Je is speaking. Ga JE morgen mee? Are you coming with us. There is no wrong between those two.
Jou--> This is used when it has to do with you, Ik heb JOU gisteren nog gebeld, I've called you yesterday.
Jouw ---> I know you didn't ask for it, but I will still explain it :p JOUW boek, YOUR book, things that belong to you.
Yes, 'u' is formal.
And no, dutch and german sentences are not built the same.
conjugating a verb in Dutch is pretty easy, you just take the infinitive without -en (sometimes you need to add a vowel), that's the 'ik'-form; for 'jij' and 'hij', you add -t
the plural forms are the same as the infinitive
so you get:
kijken
ik kijk
jij kijkt (kijk jij)
hij kijkt
wij kijken
jullie kijken
zij kijken
actually, Dutch and German sentences are in most ways built the same, with only one big difference: in German, in some cases the conjugated verb is the last word of the sentence, while this is usually not the case in Dutch
Ich habe kein Geld weil ich ein Auto gekauft habe.
Ik heb geen geld omdat ik een auto heb gekocht.