Dutch has two second-person singular pronouns: jij or je (informal) and u (formal). The choice signals social distance, respect and relationship. U is used with strangers in formal contexts, older people you do not know well, customers in formal service, authority figures and in official correspondence. Jij or je is used with friends, family, colleagues of similar status and — increasingly — in many professional environments that favour flat hierarchy and informality.
The formal u takes third-person singular verb forms: U werkt hier, u heeft, u gaat. This is distinct from both jij (jij werkt, jij gaat) and hij or zij (hij werkt). The possessive of u is uw: uw naam, uw adres. The reflexive is u or uzelf: Vergist u zich? In practice, many Dutch speakers feel uncertain about u themselves — it is slowly retreating in everyday use, particularly among younger generations and in the Netherlands compared with Belgium where u is more common.
Beyond jij and u, register differences pervade vocabulary, sentence structure and discourse style. Formal register avoids contractions, uses passive constructions, employs longer vocabulary items and constructs longer sentences. Informal speech shortens pronouns, drops certain endings in fast speech, uses particles liberally and favours simple active constructions. Reading both formal texts (newspapers, official letters) and informal ones (social media, chat) develops the register flexibility that marks a truly proficient speaker.