The suffix -te/tə/ performs nominalisations on an adjectival base. Examples are given below:

Base form	Derivation
stilsilent	stiltesilence
waarmwarm	waarmtewarmth
grutbig	gruttesize
heechhigh	hichtehight
siikill	syktedisease
romspacious	romtespace
krapnarrow	kraptenarrowness
droechdry	droechtedrought

These derivations of -te mean "instance of being {adjective}". Stiltesilence, for example, means "the instance of being stilsilent", and waarmtewarmth stands for "the instance of being waarmwarm". All output forms have common gender, i.e. they take the definite article de.

Very rarely, the suffix takes a non-adjectival base. In two cases, an adverb is available: deldown > deltevalley and neinear > neitenearness. Furthermore, the indefinite numeral mannichmany may stand at the basis of the noun mannichtequantity.

It may seem that a verb is also used as a base, as in beloftepromise (< beloveto promise), bertebirth (< bernjeto be born) or jeftegift (< jaanto give). However, this suffix -t(e) is different from the one treated in this topic. More information about verbs nominalized by -t(e) can be found in the topic on -t.

A semantic input restriction can be observed with objective and measurable nouns with the meaning "extent of being {adjective}" . Compare the first and second column of the following table:

Adjective > noun	Antonym adjective > noun
grutbig > gruttesize	lytssmall > *lytstesmallness
swierheavy > swierteweight	lichtlight > *lichttelightness
breedwide > breedtewidth	smeltight > *smeltetightness
langlong > lingtelength	koartshort > *koartteshortness

As can be seen, "high" measure adjectives like grutbig and swierheavy can undergo suffixation by -te, but their "low" counterparts within the same scale, lytssmall and lichtlight, cannot.

Dyk (1989:34-35) explains why the suffixation by means of -te is only possible for the adjectives in the first column: they are unmarked/neutral. Compare the following sentences:

In the (a)-sentences the "high" measure-adjectives have been used and in the (b)-examples the "low" ones. In the first group the speaker does not evaluate the size, but in the second group he does. To illustrate: in (4a) the speaker does not appraise the size of the building, while in example (4b) he explicitly indicates that according to him the building is rather small.

Suffixation normally occurs by just adding -te: grutbig > gruttesize or stilsilent > stiltesilence. However, some words undergo an extra phonological shift. The vowel of the base form can undergo:

• Breaking, for instance koel[ku.əl]cool > kuolte[kṷoltə]coolness and swier[svi.ər]heavy > swierte[svɪtə]weight;
• Shortening in heech[he:x]high > hichte[hɪxtə]hight;
• other vowel changes: lang[laŋ]long > lingte[lɪŋtə]length.

There are also phonological input restrictions. Firstly, there are no derivations of -te with an adjectival base form ending in a single vowel: sneua pity > *sneutepitifulness. Secondly, derivation from a base form ending in a consonant cluster is only allowed if the penultimate consonant is a sonorant ( /l/, /m/ or /r/):

Possible nominalisations	Adjective's penultimate consonant	Impossible nominalisations	Adjective's penultimate consonant
kalmserene > kalmtesereneness	/l/	lytssmall > *lytstesmallness	/t/
waarmwarm > waarmtewarmth	/r/	ljochtlight > *ljochttelightness	/x/
skerpsharp > skerptesharpness	/r/	absintabsent > *absintteabsence	/n/
frjemdforeign > frjemdteabroad	/m/	abstraktabstract > abstrakteabstractness	/k/

Note that an adjective like lytssmall is also an unsuitable input because of the semantic restriction: it represents the "low part" of a scale.

The suffix -te can follow both stressed and unstressed syllables. Examples are DJIPtedepth and hoeMANnichtequantity. The suffix does not change the stress pattern.

Pluralisation depends on semantic properties of the derived noun. For instance, if djiptedepth means something abstract like "measure of deepness", then pluralisation is impossible. If the derivation is a concrete count noun, then a plural suffix may be added freely. Thus djiptendepths and ûndjiptenshoals are deep and shallow places in the water.

In Frisian, the plural form with -en is preferred where Dutch rather chooses the plural suffix -s. Compare for instance Frisian syktenillnesses with Dutch ziektes. The newly formed nouns do not allow diminutives: *kalmtekesereneness-DIMsmall serenity or *djiptekedepth-DIMsmall depth, but they can be part of a compound: syktefersomsickness absence or djiptemjitterdepth gauge.