gemene

Gemene is the inflected form of the Dutch adjective gemeen, used before a noun in attributive position. In contemporary Dutch, gemene most often conveys the sense "mean" or "nasty" when describing a person or action, as in een gemene streek or hij deed een gemene grap. The predicative form of the same concept is geen gemene; in sentences like "hij is gemeen" the adjective appears without the -e ending, because predicative adjectives in Dutch do not take the same inflection as attributive ones.

The word has a historical layer as well. Gemeen originally denoted something shared or common among people, and gemene has appeared in older or more formal Dutch with a related sense of "common" or "ordinary." In modern standard usage, this sense is usually expressed by andere vormen such as algemeen or gemeenschappelijk, while gemene remains primarily associated with the negative sense of mean or hostile behavior.

Grammatical notes are straightforward: gemene is the attributive form used before a noun after a definite article or determiner (de, het, mijn, jouw, etc.). In many everyday phrases, you will encounter gemene in fixed expressions or in literary or historical contexts, whereas in everyday speech the primary association remains with the meaning "mean."

Etymologically, gemene traces back to Old Dutch gemeen, related to German gemein and English common in its broad sense. The two primary senses—mean and common—reflect a shared Germanic root that has evolved differently in Dutch over time.

See also: gemeen, gemeenschappelijk, algemeen.