Dutch impersonal constructions describe situations or actions without specifying who performs them. The pronoun het serves as a dummy subject in weather expressions (het regent, het sneeuwt, het is koud), in existential sentences (het is een probleem, het zijn de regels) and in passive constructions (het wordt verwacht dat). The het in these sentences carries no real referential meaning — it simply fills the grammatically required subject position.
Men (one or people or they in a general sense) is a formal impersonal pronoun used to describe general practices, customs or rules: Men spreekt hier Nederlands. Men verwacht dat… Hoe zegt men dat in het Nederlands? It is equivalent to French on or German man and is more common in formal writing, official notices and literature. In everyday speech, je (general you) often replaces men: Hoe zeg je dat? Dat doe je zo.
Impersonal passives with er also describe general activity without a specific actor: Er wordt hier gefluisterd (People are whispering here). Er wordt verwacht (It is expected). This construction allows the omission of both agent and subject, creating a detached official tone. Government communications, manuals and academic texts rely heavily on these impersonal forms. Recognising them helps decode official Dutch that might otherwise seem strangely subjectless.