In Dutch, attributive adjectives are placed between the determiner and the noun, as in (50a). Placing the adjective before the determiner, as in (50b), is always excluded, and the same is usually true for placing the adjective after the noun, as in (50c).

The order in the (b)-examples above is also excluded when the adjective is questioned or preceded by the degree modifier zothat; English constructions like (51a&b) are not acceptable in Dutch, as shown in the corresponding singly-primed examples. The (more) acceptable versions are given in the doubly-primed examples.

The order in (50c), on the other hand, is found in some archaic or fixed expressions, as well as in archaizing literary style. The primed examples in (52) show that, unlike prenominal attributive adjectives, the postnominal adjective is not inflected.

The (a)-examples in (53) are formulaic temporal expressions that are found in written texts and formal language: note the -e ending on aanstaande. Example (53b') shows that the N-A pattern is not generally available.

It should also be noted that the adjective liefdear can be used postnominally in colloquial speech in forms of address: kindje liefdear child. Finally, Dutch has several compounds that may have originated in the postnominal use of attributive adjectives: frequently cited examples are Staten-GeneraalStates-General and secretaris-generaalSecretary-General.

Other elements that appear between the noun and the determiner can often be distinguished from attributive adjectives by the fact that they are not inflected. This subsection begins with a discussion of numerals and quantifiers.

Section N19.2.2.1 has shown that possessive pronouns never have an attributive -e ending, with the possible exception of the first person plural onsour. We illustrate this again in Table (70) for singular noun phrases headed by the non-neuter noun katcat and the neuter noun paardhorse. This table shows that the odd one out onsour takes the –e ending only when the head noun is non-neuter.

Table (71) shows the plural counterparts of the cases in Table (70); we see that the -e ending on ons is no longer sensitive to the gender of the noun; it appears with all plural nouns.

The fact that the -e ending does not appear when the possessive pronoun ons precedes a singular het-noun may indicate that we are dealing with the attributive inflection; cf. the rules in (72), repeated from (3) in Section 27.1.1, sub I.

However, it should be kept in mind that the neuter noun phrase ons paardour horse from Table (70) is not an indefinite noun phrase, as is clear from the obligatory attributive -e ending on the adjective favoriet in (73). The claim that the -e ending on onze is the attributive one would also incorrectly predict that (73b) is unacceptable, since it would then violate the concord constraint on attributive inflection from Section 27.1.1, sub I. We therefore conclude that the -e ending on onze cannot be treated as an attributive inflection after all.

Note that we have ignored cases such as mijn/ons lief kindmy/ons dear child, where the attributive -e ending is also missing from the adjective lief, in violation of the rules in (72); cf. Booij (1992a). Such cases seem to be particularly common as (conventional) forms of address, which also explains why they typically occur with first-person personal pronouns.

Some adverbs may also occur between the determiner and the nominal head of a noun phrase. Unlike attributive adjectives and numerals, adverbs are not related to the noun, but modify some other element within the noun phrase, which is also reflected in the fact that they usually do not show attributive inflection. The fact that the adverbs in (74) modify the adjectives rather than the nouns can also be illustrated by the fact that they can only occur when the adjectives are present.

In the case of adjectives that can be used attributively and adverbially (cf. Section 25.1.2, sub I), confusion can arise in singular, indefinite, neuter noun phrases. In example (75a), for instance, belachelijk can be understood either as an adjective modifying the noun, or as a degree modifier of the adjective (in the latter case, but not in the former, belachelijk must receive an accent). This problem does not arise in the other cases, since the attributive adjective would then get the -e inflection, while the adverb remains uninflected; cf. the (b) and (c)-examples in (75).

The same problem does not arise with non-neuter noun phrases, since the attributive -e inflection is present in all cases. We illustrate this in (76) only for indefinite noun phrases.

Occasionally speakers also allow an inflectional ending on the degree modifier; this is shown in the primeless examples of (77). It may be that we are dealing with a reinterpretation of the adverbs heel and erg as “degree” adjectives, since in the primed examples inflection never occurs on the degree adverb zeervery, which is never used as an attributive adjective. Semantically, however, we are clearly dealing with adverbs modifying an adjective: if the adjective is omitted, all examples become unacceptable.

The examples in (78) show that adverbs modifying attributively used participles, pseudo-participles, or deverbal adjectives are never inflected; cf. Section 31.5 for further discussion.

The number signs indicate that the relevant examples in (78) are fully acceptable when the inflected adjectives are interpreted as attributive modifiers of the noun; for instance, (78b) with inflected zware does not refer to a very hairy man, but to a hairy man who is heavy.

The attributive -e ending also provides a means of distinguishing attributive adjectives from the adjectival part of A+N compounds: the inflection only appears in the former case. Some minimal pairs are given in the primeless examples in (79). The primed examples in (79) are added to show that attributive adjectives must precede the full compound.

Of course, the adjective-noun compounds have a specialized meaning: a roodborst is not a red breast but a bird, and a kleindochter is not a special kind of daughter but a female descendant of the second degree. However, having a specialized meaning does not require compounding: the meaning of blauwe reiger (lit.: blue heron) is as specialized as roodborstrobin in that it refers to the species called “Gray Heron” in English, but the adjective still has the attributive ending; cf. Section 23.3.2.1, sub ID, for more discussion.