iemands

Iemands is a Dutch possessive construction formed from the indefinite pronoun iemand, meaning someone. It denotes something belonging to an unspecified person and functions similarly to the English "someone's." It is commonly used to refer to objects, qualities, or attributes associated with a person whose identity is not given.

In standard Dutch, the possessive formed from iemand is written with an apostrophe: iemand's. For example, iemand's auto means an automobile belonging to someone. The form ive without an apostrophe, iemands, is not considered standard in modern Dutch and may be seen as a typographical or stylistic simplification in informal contexts. In everyday speech, speakers often substitute with informal alternatives such as iemand z'n auto or iemand z’n huis, where z'n is a contraction of "zijn" (his) used colloquially, or they may use the longer phrase van iemand to express possession.

Usage notes: Iemands typically appears directly before the possessed noun and can indicate possession without naming the owner. It can be used in narrative or dialogue to refer to possessions without identifying who owns them, or to generalize about what someone has.

Alternatives: To avoid the possessive form, Dutch also expresses possession with de auto van iemand (the car of someone) or by generalizing with eigen or attributive phrases. These alternatives can be preferred in formal writing or when clarity is desired.

See also: Dutch possessive constructions, genitive case, possessive pronouns, z'n constructions.