# Je/Jij



## Pawcio

What's diffrence beetwen je and jij? When I must use je and when jij? If I want to ask about name i use Je/Jij? Hoe Heet je?


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## Peterdg

Hello,

Welcome to the forums.

The difference is the (semantic) stress. In Dutch grammar, "jij" is called the full form while "je" is called the reduced form.

That's the theoretic part. 

If we take your example as a starting point:

"Hoe heet je?" is very neutral and says "What's your name?".

"Hoe heet jij?" is specifiaclly addressed to the second person, excluding the rest. As far as I know, English does not have the possibility to make this dictinction, but you could compare it with "What's your name, yes, you?.

For example, if you  had a group of people in front of you, and you would ask the first person's name, you would say "Hoe heet je?" and then addressing the second person, you would then say "en hoe heet jij?" to make it clear you are now addressing someone else.

I hope this is more or less clear.


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## Pawcio

Hmm it's little different form when I adressed question to second person. So, if I use jij to first person i will make a serious mistake?


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## Peterdg

No, it would not be a mistake at all. You can also address the first person with "jij". You just put a little more stress on the pronoun than when using "je". It would sound strange though if you'd address the second person with "je" instead of "jij".


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## BrMo

Maybe using "heten" as an example is a bit confusing, because it is weird to say "hoe heet je?".

Consider the verb "doen" (to do).

"Wat doe je" puts the stress on the action/verb.

"Wat doe jij" puts the stress on the person/pronoun.


Another example:

"Wat denk je?" (what do you think?) could be asked in a one on one conversation, with the stress lying on the other person's thoughts.

"Wat denk jij?" (what do you think?) could be asked when addressing a group, and you want single out one person in said group.

Hope this helps.


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## Peterdg

BrMo said:


> Maybe using "heten" as an example is a bit confusing, because it is weird to say "hoe heet je?".




What is weird in saying "Hoe heet je?"

How would you say it?


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## bibibiben

Peterdg said:


> What is weird in saying "Hoe heet je?"
> 
> How would you say it?



There's nothing wrong with _Hoe heet je?_. BrMo's assertion that using _je_ in a sentence invariably emphasizes the action is wrong.


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## matakoweg

_Hoe heet je?_ is not weird 
_Hoe heet jij?_ is used with emphasis, as a kind of contrast is needed

Introducing yourself for example and then asking the other person's name:
I_k heet Piet en hoe heet jij? _
*_Ik heet Piet en hoe heet je?_ sounds wrong to me.

but in other context _Hoe heet je?_ sounds quite normal to me.


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## bibibiben

matakoweg said:


> Introducing yourself for example and then asking the other person's name:
> I_k heet Piet en hoe heet jij? _
> *_Ik heet Piet en hoe heet je?_ sounds wrong to me.



As Peterdg pointed out, you can't use the reduced form _je_ when this personal pronoun needs to be stressed, which is the case in this sentence.

English works just like Dutch, the main difference being that unstressed personal pronouns are spelled the same way as stressed personal pronouns most of the time.


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