adding a -ten or -den to the verb stem. Present tense Past tense Plurals Plural nouns are formed according to their gender. Tweants has three-word genders, namely masculine, feminine and neuter Masculine Plurals for masculine are generally formed by adding umlaut and word-final -e to the noun Feminine Plurals for feminine nouns are generally formed by adding word-final -n to the noun Neuter Plurals for neuter nouns are generally formed by adding word-final -er to the noun. If the neuter noun has a back vowel, it also receives an umlaut and -er. Diminutives and plurals Sociolinguistic characteristics Tweants has long been looked down upon, and is generally considered a low-prestige language, often equalled with farm-specific jargon. Speakers report the language to "immediately bring about a more inclusive and informal atmosphere". Speakers may switch to (their attempt at) Standard Dutch when circumstances indicate a more "socially upward circle". Depending on the perceived distinction those circumstances, speakers may opt to include regionalisms in their Dutch, whether that implies an accent, morphology, underlying grammatical structures or idioms. Though Tweants is considered a language without class distinctions, speakers tend to look for older words and phrases in language preservation gatherings. Knowledge of the aforementioned farm-specific jargon is often considered a sign (and a test) of proficiency. Interference in Dutch Native speakers have a distinct accent when speaking Dutch. While the accent is a result of Low Saxon phonetic properties and can vary per person or social circumstance, particularly the distinct pronunciation of the 'O' and 'E' is renowned. It is similar to the Hiberno-English or Scots pronunciation of the 'O' and the 'A'. Another striking feature of Tweants Dutch (and therefore a sign of L1-interference) is the use of a syllabic consonant, which in popular Dutch language is often referred to as "swallowing final -en". On an idiomatic level, people from Twente may sometimes translate phrases literally into Dutch, thus forming Twentisms. Due to the fact that Tweants and Standard Dutch are varieties of the West Germanic languages, they have many similarities, which may lead speakers of Tweants to believe that a "Dutchified" pronunciation of a Tweants expression is correct and valid: In English: I have a flat tyre In Tweants: Ik hebbe den band lek In Tweants-influenced Dutch (Twentism): *Ik heb de band lek (lit. I have the tyre flat) In correct Standard Dutch: Ik heb een lekke band (lit. I have a