When you’re learning Dutch on a fairly advanced level, you may have come across a term that both looks weird and can be somewhat incomprehensible. This term is tussen-n, and yes, that’s how it’s spelled. It’s a rule about how to link certain words together, something Dutch speakers like to do a lot. Here’s how the tussen-n works and why it hasn’t been without controversy.
It may be helpful to read the post about compound words first, so you know why we like to link words together so much, rather than separating them with a blank space like so many other languages do.
What is the tussen-n?
Tussen-n means n that is put in between things – tussen literally means between, and n obviously means the letter n. It’s used, nowadays at least, in a special type of compound words, specifically compound words of which the first compound is a noun, although there’s much more to the rule.
When this is the case, the singular form of the noun that would make sense to use, is sometimes upgraded to a word that’s actually the plural of said noun. It can occur as an actual -n that is put in between, but more often it shows up as -en, sometimes even with an added consonant in front of it in order to comply to our rules of pronunciation.
Let’s start with a basic example, shall we?
A shelf is a plank in Dutch. Just like English shelves, Dutch ones are often used to put books on – book is boek in Dutch. In English, people tend not to bother forcing these two words together to form a compound word, but in Dutch, this is mandatory. Moreover, while the forms of the words don’t change depending on their relation to each other in English – it’s simply a book shelf – in Dutch, they do, and you end up with boekenplank, rather than boekplank.
This change is called the tussen-n, even though in this case, it’s actually a tussen-en. There are a few basic rules about when this tussen-n occurs, and when it doesn’t:
- As stated before, the tussen-n can only occur in compound words of which the first compound is a noun.
- It also only occurs when the plural of that noun is (or more specifically: can be) formed by adding -n or -en to it – more about different ways of forming Dutch plurals here.
- Lastly, it occurs when the interfix that is used to link the words together is a schwa, or a mid central vowel, written as a backwards e, or if the noun in question already ends in a schwa.
History lesson
This last part is important in historic perspective, so let’s dive into that first for a bit.
Back in the days, between 1954 and 1995, the tussen-n didn’t always occur as it does today, even when the compound word featured a schwa-like interfix. The rule used to be that only a compound word of which the first compound is a necessary plural, aka a form in which only the plural would make sense, this plural form was used. This way, you would still end up with boekenplank (a shelf with only one book on it is a bit odd), but the tail of a monkey would be an apestaart, rather than an apenstaart, as it is today, because it’s one tail that’s attached to a single monkey. In English, you would simply use the singular form of the noun, but in Dutch, the plural form is used.
In 1995, Dutch underwent a sizeable spelling reform, of which the tussen-n was arguably the most notable part, and the rule was turned into pretty much what it is today, with a minor exception about which I’ll explain a bit later on.
Rules and exceptions
There’s three more things that talk about when not to write a tussen-n. These are already embedded in the rules mentioned above, but I’ll state them for clarity. The tussen-n is not used when…
… the first compound is a noun that doesn’t have a plural form.
… the first compound isn’t a noun, but a word derived from a verb.
… the second compound isn’t a noun, but a suffix.
Now, the tussen-n has only a few main rules, but, as per quite standard in Dutch, there are about as many exceptions to it. In fact, there’s five of them. The tussen-n is not used (even though it should be according to the rules) when…
- … the first compound refers to something or someone of which there is only one. When princess Amalia ascends to the throne in who knows how many years, we’ll have a Queen’s Day again instead of the current King’s Day, and it would be called Koninginnedag, without a tussen-n, for we will only have one Queen. However, a type of soup we call koninginnensoep does come with a tussen-n, for it doesn’t refer specifically to our Queen, but to queens in general. The same happens with zonneschijn (sunshine) and maneschijn (moonshine): while there are tons of stars and moons in the universe, these refer specifically to our Sun and Moon, and there happens to be only one of each (or so they thought…..).
- … the first compound is technically a noun, but is more or less used as an adjective. While an apenstaart is the tail of a monkey, you can be apetrots (proud as a monkey, I suppose) of someone. Ape- is used as an adjective here, rather than as a noun.
- … the full compound word is a fixed expression that’s been used for ages. Your back is called your rug in Dutch, and the translation of spine does adhere to the tussen-n rule – ruggenwervel – but in an old expression like ruggespraak, meaning something like consultation, the extra n doesn’t occur, even though it should if you were to follow the rules.
- … one of the compounds isn’t recognizeable as a separate compound anymore. A nightingale is a nachtegaal in Dutch, and even though nacht is a perfectly normal Dutch noun that means night, it’s not really seen like that in the name of the bird, which is why we skip the tussen-n.
- … the word isn’t a compound word at all, but merely looks like one. To stay in the monkey business: apekool is a word that means something like rubbish, nonsense, humbug. It has nothing to do with monkeys, nor with wild cabbage (which is what kool means, among other things), it only looks like it’s a combination of the two.
(In case there’s any biologists reading along: yes, we do use the word aap for monkey, the translation of ape into Dutch would be mensaap, or man-monkey).
How about that controversy?
Even apart from the fact that Dutch speakers had to learn a completely new spelling rule, something not everybody was all too happy about, there was even more controversy that led to the complete annihilation of a sixth exception that used to be on the list.
This exception was about the names of plants, which were not supposed to get the tussen-n in the original reform. The language council had come up with this exception pretty much on their own, without asking botanists and writers of nature encyclopedias about their opinion on the matter. In fact, the writers of one of the largest plant encyclopedias in Dutch, Heukels’, had already printed a new version that adhered to the tussen-n rule, and then had to reprint the whole thing to adhere to the exception instead, only to find out the exception was reversed a year later.
In the Groene Boekje, or Green Book (and a small one at that), the common name for the official list of Dutch words and their spelling, this exception was still present until the revised edition of as late as 2005.
Long story short
Dutch compound words can sometimes be linked using a schwa sound, or mid central vowel. When this is the case, and some other rules have come into play, the interfix linking the two compounds receives an extra -n, called the tussen-n, or between-n. This hasn’t always been the case: it’s a rather recent addition to our language, fixed in place in 1995, although a more rudimentary version has existed since 1954.
It’s a rule that hasn’t been free of controversy, and even today, it can be hard to determine whether to use the tussen-n or not, although the rules are mostly quite clear on the matter. Still, Dutchies tend to keep making mistakes in it, so you’ll probably be forgiven if one were to slip into your written texts.
That’s quite enough apekool for now, don’t you think?
