Like all other continental West Germanic languages, Dutch has a rather complicated word order that is markedly different from English, which presents a problem for Anglophones learning Dutch. Dutch, like German and Norwegian, is also known for its ability to glue words together to form very long words. Examples of this are de randjongerenhangplekkenbeleidsambtenarensalarisbesprekingsafspraken (the agreements for the negotiations concerning the salary of public servants who decide on the policy for areas where unemployed youth is allowed to hang out), hottentottententententoonstellingsmakersopleidingsprogramma (the curriculum of an education teaching the makers of exhibitions about the tents of the Hottentots), and a number with dozens of digits can be written out as one word. Though grammatically correct, it is never done to this extent; at most two or three words are glued together.
The Dutch written grammar has simplified a lot over the past 100 years: cases are now only used for the pronouns. For example: ik = I, me = me, mij = me, mijn = my, wie = who, wiens = whose, wier = whose.
Nouns and adjectives are not case inflected (except for the genitive of nouns: -(')s or -'). In the spoken language cases and case inflections had already gradually disappeared from a much earlier date on (probably the 15th century) as in all continental West Germanic dialects.
Many languages have gender. That is, nouns and adjectives can be masculine, feminine or neuter. Dutch nouns and Dutch adjectives are either neuter or common gender. This concept can be tricky for an English speaker learning Dutch, because it is not a part of the English grammar system, and it does not follow the conventional usage of masculine and feminine genders in the Romance languages like Spanish and French.
Inflection of adjectives is a little more complicated: nothing with indefinite (een "a", "an"...), neuter nouns in singular and -e in all other cases.
een mooi huis (a beautiful house)
het mooie huis (the beautiful house)
mooie huizen (beautiful houses)
de mooie huizen (the beautiful houses)
een mooie vrouw (a beautiful woman)
More complex inflection is still used in certain expressions like de heer des huizes (litt.: the man of the house), ter hulp komen (to come to help), etc. These are usually remnants of cases and other inflections no longer in general use today.
Dutch nouns are, however, inflected for size: -je for singular diminutive and -jes for plural diminutive. Between these suffixes and the radical can come extra letters depending on the ending of the word:
boom (tree) - boompje
ring (ring) - ringetje
koning (king) - koninkje
tien (ten) - tientje
