English words in Dutch compounds: one word or two?

English writes account manager and management team with spaces, but the established Dutch compounds are accountmanager and managementteam. An English combination that functions as a Dutch compound follows the Dutch joining rule; retaining every English space produces the spelling error nicknamed the Engelse ziekte (English disease).

Join the parts when they form an established compound in Dutch. Check how the combination functions in Dutch, not how a British or American source prints it. The rule applies when both parts are English and when an English part combines with a Dutch one.

The general compound-noun rule therefore still does the main work. English origin does not automatically create a space or a hyphen. A readability hyphen may be added in many compounds, for example assessment-center, but the plain one-word form remains correct.

Dutch can use a multiword English phrase as the first block of a larger compound. The internal English spaces then close too: human resources + afdeling → humanresourcesafdeling. This is the English-specific counterpart of a Dutch phrase-based compound.

The hyphen in socialmedia-account is required because adjacent a letters would otherwise create a misleading vowel sequence at the boundary. Optional clarity forms such as human-resourcesafdeling, humanresources-afdeling, and human-resources-afdeling are also possible, but do not leave a bare space.

Not every English sequence used in Dutch has become a compound. The official spelling retains spaces in several classes, especially multiword function names and many adjective + noun combinations.

A phrase can remain separate on its own and still close up when it becomes one block inside a longer compound: low budget but lowbudgetfilm; intensive care but intensivecarearts. That is why “one concept equals one word” is only a first clue, not a complete test.

English compounds follow the ordinary Dutch hyphen rule when joining would obscure the vowel boundary. A hyphen is also used with an initial, single letter, number, or symbol as one element.

The general mechanism is covered on hyphens in compounds. Here the point is that an English spelling does not override that Dutch boundary rule.

When English non or no forms the left part, retain the prescribed hyphen: non-profit, non-stopvlucht, no-nonsensepolitiek, no-iron. In a longer compound, the existing hyphen remains while the new head joins: non-profitorganisatie.

Many English compounds whose second part is a particle such as in, out, or up are written with a hyphen in Dutch: plug-in, lay-out, back-up, follow-up, time-out. The hyphen stays when another word is added: back-upbestand, plug-inmodule, time-outprocedure.

The exceptions are lexical: current official guidance explicitly lists pullover, countdown, breakdown, feedback, and playback without a hyphen. Do not invent a hyphen from pronunciation alone; check the official word list for an unfamiliar loan.

Some English loans are treated as linked combinations for reasons other than the particle pattern. Equal or coordinated parts commonly take a hyphen, as do several forms that are conventionally hyphenated in English.

These small lexical classes make a lookup essential. The robust production rule is: join an established Dutch compound, preserve any required internal hyphen, and leave an established English word group separate until it becomes a block in a longer Dutch compound.

• Decide whether Dutch uses the combination as a compound or retains it as a word group.
• For an established compound, close the English spaces: managementteam.
• If a retained phrase becomes the first block of a longer compound, close its spaces too: lowbudgetfilm.
• Check for vowel collision, non/no, a particle-final loan, or another conventional hyphen.
• When establishment or an exception is uncertain, use the current Woordenlijst rather than copying English typography.

• Do not write account manager in ordinary Dutch when you mean the established accountmanager.
• Do not fuse every English phrase: keep chief executive officer and standalone low budget separate.
• Do not leave internal spaces in humanresourcesafdeling; use one word or clarity hyphens.
• Do not remove a required hyphen from back-up or add one to the official exception feedback.
• Do not assume the English source spelling decides the Dutch form.

Review Dutch compound nouns, linking letters, and the apostrophe. The page on foreign plurals covers number rather than compound spacing.