persoonlijke

Persoonlijke is a Dutch adjective meaning personal or private, especially when describing aspects related to a person or an individual. It is used to characterize qualities, data, spaces, or beliefs as belonging to or concerning a particular person rather than to the public or general. The word is formed from the noun persoon (person) and the suffix -lijk, yielding the base adjective persoonlijk; the form persoonlijke is the inflected variant used before definite nouns or in plural contexts.

In everyday and formal language, persoonlijke appears in a wide range of expressions. Common constructions include persoonlijke gegevens (personal data), persoonlijke mening (personal opinion), persoonlijke ruimte (personal space), and persoonlijke ontwikkeling (personal development). In legal and administrative language, the compound noun persoonsgegeven(s) is often preferred to denote specific personal data.

Grammatical note: Dutch adjectives agree with the noun in definiteness and number. The base form persoonlijk changes to persoonlijke before definite nouns or plural nouns, while in other contexts the adjective may appear in its uninflected form. For example, een persoonlijke aanpak vs. de persoonlijke aanpak, depending on definiteness and number.

See also: persoonlijk (the base form of the adjective), persoons-, privacy and data protection terms in Dutch, such as persoonsgegeven (personal data). Related concepts include privacy, personal space, and personal attributes.