Showing possession in Dutch: van and the -s genitive

Dutch has two everyday ways to say who owns something. The common one uses van (of): de auto van mijn broer (my brother's car, literally the car of my brother). The other adds -s to a person's name, much like English 's: Toms fiets (Tom's bike). For my, your, his and so on you use a possessive pronoun instead — this page is about naming the owner.

For most cases, use the pattern [thing] van [owner]: name the thing first, then van, then the owner. To build the short name + s form, add -s straight onto a person's name — but only a name, and usually with no apostrophe.

1. The everyday way, with van: het huis van mijn ouders (my parents' house), de tas van Sarah (Sarah's bag). This works with any owner — a name, a noun, or a pronoun.
2. The name + s form: add -s to a first name or other proper name, placed before the thing, as in English: Jans auto (Jan's car), Marks idee (Mark's idea).
3. The -s form works with proper names only. You cannot add it to an ordinary noun: not de buurmans auto, but de auto van de buurman (the neighbour's car).

Most names simply take -s with nothing extra: Toms, Marks, Brams. There are two cases where you add an apostrophe, to keep the name sounding the way it should, and one where you keep the plain -s.

• After a single long vowel — a, o, u, i, y — write 's: Anna's boek (Anna's book), Otto's hond (Otto's dog), Romy's jas (Romy's coat). Without the apostrophe the vowel would look short. This is the same apostrophe that appears in plurals like auto's.
• After a name that already ends in s (or an s-like sound), add only an apostrophe and no second s: Bas' fiets (Bas's bike), Klaas' auto (Klaas's car).
• A name ending in a silent -e takes a plain -s, no apostrophe: Jannekes moeder (Janneke's mother).

• In speech and most writing, van is the default and always safe: de fiets van Lisa (Lisa's bike).
• The name + s form is short and common with first names: Emma's verjaardag (Emma's birthday).
• For anything that is not a proper name — jobs, family words, objects — use van: de kleur van de muur (the colour of the wall), het werk van de dokter (the doctor's work).
• Dutch has no general 's ending like English. Where English says the dog's tail, Dutch says de staart van de hond (the tail of the dog).

The main trap for English speakers is copying the English 's onto everything. In careful Dutch the -s form is limited to proper names. My brother's car is not mijn broers auto, because broer is an ordinary noun — it takes van: de auto van mijn broer. A second trap is adding an apostrophe by default: most names need none (Toms, not Tom's); the apostrophe belongs only to names ending in a long vowel (Anna's) or in s (Bas').