Choosing the diminutive ending: -je, -tje, -etje, -pje, -kje

The Dutch diminutive makes something small, cute or casual, and its plain ending is -je: het huis → het huisje (the little house). Many nouns cannot sit next to a bare -je comfortably, so they take a padded version — -tje, -etje, -pje or -kje — that sounds right: de man → het mannetje (the little man), never manje. Which of the five you reach for is decided by the sound the noun ends on.

Listen to the final sound of the noun. The plain -je is the default and covers most words; each of the other four endings claims one specific set of endings. The table runs from the most common ending down to the rarest.

The same choice, read as four questions about the word's ending:

1. Does it end in a full vowel, in -w, or in an unstressed -el, -en, -er or -or? Take -tje: de mouw → het mouwtje (the little sleeve), de koe → het koetje (the little cow), de sleutel → het sleuteltje (the little key), de lepel → het lepeltje (the little spoon).
2. Does a short, stressed vowel close on a single l, m, n or r — or on -ng? Take -etje: de pan → het pannetje (the little pan), de kam → het kammetje (the little comb), de ster → het sterretje (the little star), het ding → het dingetje (the little thing).
3. Does its final m follow a long vowel, or does the word end in -lm or -rm, or in a muffled -em or -um? Take -pje: de riem → het riempje (the little strap), de arm → het armpje (the little arm), de helm → het helmpje (the little helmet), de bodem → het bodempje (the little base).
4. Does it end in an unstressed -ing? Swap the g for a k and add -je (-ing → -inkje), which gives -kje: de tekening → het tekeninkje (the little drawing), de wandeling → het wandelinkje (the little walk).

No matter which ending wins, the diminutive is always a het-word and its plural is -s: het stoeltje → de stoeltjes.

Two endings force a small spelling change so the vowel keeps the sound it had before. It is the ordinary open- and closed-syllable spelling at work.

• -etje needs the short vowel to stay short, so the closing consonant is written twice: de pan → het pannetje, de kam → het kammetje, de ster → het sterretje. The lone exception is -ng, where the vowel was never long in the first place, so nothing is doubled: de ring → het ringetje keeps its single g.
• -tje after a bare a, i, o or u writes that vowel twice so it stays long: de opa → het opaatje (grandpa), de taxi → het taxietje (little taxi), de kano → het kanootje (little canoe).
• A word ending in a single y — nearly always a loan from English — marks the long vowel with an apostrophe instead of a doubled letter: de pony → het pony'tje (little pony). It is the same apostrophe that shows up in the plural pony's.

The pair that trips people up is -etje against -tje after l, n or r, and vowel length is the whole difference. A short vowel pulls -etje and doubles the consonant (de bel → het belletje, the little bell — bel has a short e; de kar → het karretje, the little cart), while a long vowel stays with a plain -tje (het verhaal → het verhaaltje, the little story — verhaal has a long aa). Say the word out loud: a short, clipped vowel points to -etje.