Punctuation

The period

Periods in Dutch are used similarly to English. They always mark ends of sentences and the use of periods in texts is obligatory. Without periods, sentences would not be readable and the text would have no structure.

In most cases, as well as in English, sentences are not longer than two lines compared to other languages where sentences would take up to three or four lines with a structure separated mostly by commas. When the sentence is marked with a period, the next sentence should begin with a capital letter:

De laatste tijd werd er veel wijn gedronken. Toen Willem aankwam vertelde hij dat in een periode van twee weken er twintig flessen werden leeg gedronken, iedereen was verbaasd. Later keek Klaas naar de bonnen van de afgelopen maand.

Abbreviations in many cases have an addition of periods:

Dat wil zeggen → d.w.z.
Doctorandus → drs.

When a sentence ends in an abbreviation with a period, no additional period should be included:

Dit doet mij denken aan salsa, tango, merengue, etc. Af en toe gaan we naar de dansschool.

At the end of titles belonging to articles, chapters, paragraphs, etc., no period is necessary. Even when the title is made of a longer phrase.

When large numbers are described, periods are used to separate each group of three numbers:

1.000.000
6.870.550.200

The comma

In many cases it is necessary to add a comma to sentences in order to give them structure. Here one phrase ends within a sentence and then there is another:

De bekers zijn heel mooi, de grotere beker zelfs mooier.

In some cases a comma can change the definition of the meaning of a sentence:

Dit is de sterkste koffie met een beetje suiker. (this is the strongest coffee with a little sugar)
Dit is de sterkste koffie, met een beetje suiker is hij niet zo bitter. this is the strongest coffee, with a little of sugar it will be less bitter)

An important rule for using a comma within a sentence is to take into account that in the moment where the comma is placed, a little pause is made during reading or speech. When you have doubts while writing, it is better to not include commas instead of using commas where they should not be included. Commas should or must be used between subsections:

Hoewel zij blind is, willen ze dat zij meegaat (even though she is blind, they want her to go)

They should be included between nouns, adjectives and adverbs in enumerations:

Ik heb het over stoelen, kasten, tafels en deuren
We willen alleen de rode, groene en de oranje schriften.

After phrases with a comma, the next phrase will never begin with a capital letter as when the sentences are marked with a period. With an exception for cards, letter, mails, etc., here after the salutation ends with a comma the next sentence starts with a capital letter:

Geachte meneer van Duijn,
Hierbij wil ik u laten weten dat op donderdag 10 januari de vergadering plaatsvindt.

In numbers, commas are always used to indicate decimals:

$44,50
1.230.798,506

The colon

The colon in Dutch is used for enumerations:

Toen we aankwamen zagen we dat er dingen ontbraken: het brood, het beleg en vlees.

In most cases they are used to describe or explain something:

Dit gaat om het volgende: drie jonge kinderen en een verpleger.

Colons are used to a quote direct speech:

Toen ze in het park aankwamen zeiden ze: ‘’laat de eenden met rust.’’

The semicolon

Semicolons are used similarly to colons. They are used to separate sentences without losing the strong connections between the two sentences. The function is similar to the use of commas:

De kinderen spelen vaak buiten; we wachten vol vreugde op de zomer.

The quotation mark

Quotation marks are used in different forms in Dutch. There is the classic form:

„Binnekort zullen we het feest aankondigen”

In most cases, normal quotation marks are used:

”Binnekort zullen we het feest aankondigen”

When the written speech is being interrupted by for example ‘’zei hij’’ (he said), the quoted sentence will end with a quotation mark and the next sentence will be opened with a new quotation mark:

”Goedemiddag iedereen!” zei de burgemeester, ”Ik ben blij om jullie hier te zien.”

When within the quoted sentence another phrase is quoted, singular quotation marks should be used:

De jongens vertelde: ‘’oma zei altijd ‘maak zelf je kleren schoon’ toen we laat aankwamen.’’

The apostrophe

In some cases in Dutch apostrophes indicate that a group of letters is skipped within a reduced word, which sometimes is optional but can also be obligatory. This can occur at the beginning of words:

Een → ‘n; Ik zag ‘n vogel.
Het → ‘t; Dit is ’t schip.
Eens → ‘ns; Kom ‘ns!

They also appear in the middle of words:

Mijn → m’n; Dat is m’n mobiel.
Zijn → z’n; Kijk naar z’n pols

They are also very commonly used in contractions:

Zo een → zo’n; Ik wil ook zo’n huis

As mentioned earlier, apostrophes are common for words in plural with vowel endings. If a word ends in a vowel, an apostrophe + -s is used:

Foto → foto’s

In some cases, an apostrophe is used for genitive cases when a noun ends in a vowel and when the noun ends in -s, the apostrophe goes after the -s:

Emma’s opa (Emma’s grandfather)
Guus’ ouders (Guus his parents)

In sentences that begin with a word with an apostrophe the second word will have a capital letter instead of the first:

‘n Schaap zal nooit ontsnappen.

As mentioned previoulsy, abbreviated letter words have an apostrophe in their plural and diminutive forms:

PDF’s
Sms’je

The semicolon

The ellipsis in Dutch is used to let us know that part of a sentence or word is omitted:

De laatste tijd zijn wij bang geweest, dus…
Kijk maar in de spie…

They are used to indicate a small pause between words within a sentence:

Wat toen ontbrak … het podium.

They are also used to resume enumerations:

We keken naar de dieren: apen, beren, leeuwen, tijgers…