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Beginning Dutch Verbs 1

This page is a first introduction — you don't need to click the links — follow the links when you want to know more about the subject of the paragraph. At the bottom of the page are links to further study material

An Example:  denken to think

denken		to think
ik denk		I think		ik ('I')
jij denkt		you think		jij / je ('you' - singular informal)
hij denkt		he thinks		hij ('he') - zij / ze ('she') - het / 't ('it')
wij denken		we think		wij / we ('we')
jullie denken		you think		jullie ('you, you guys, y'all' - plural informal)
zij denken		they think		zij / ze ('they')
U denkt		you think		U ('you' - formal, polite)
		more denken - more personal pronouns

Note that ze/zij  can mean both 'she' and 'they' but the verb forms are different

When the verb comes before the personal pronoun, like in question mode and a few other special sentences, jij/je  takes the verb stem, does not get a T‑ending:
Denk je ...? 2 3 Do you think ...? / Do you think so?

The various forms of the verb are based on the 'verb stem.'
'Denken'  is the 'infinitive,'  the form you'll find in dictionaries and word lists, 'denk'  is its 'verb stem' - more below

The verb forms for the simple present tense:

moeten		to have to (etc.)
ik moet		I have to
jij moet		you have to (singular, informal you)
hij moet		he has to
wij moeten		we have to
jullie moeten		you have to (plural, informal you)
zij moeten		they have to
U moet		you have to (polite you)

Some of the most common verbs have irregularities - I'll explain a few below, most on a next page

gaan to go
staan to stand, to be standing
doen 2 3 to do
zien to see
zijn to be
hebben to have
zullen 'shall, will' - the future tense
mogen 2 'may,' 'to be allowed to'
kunnen 'can,' to be able to, to be possible, to be allowed to
komen to come
willen 2 to want, wish, desire, would like to

(het) werkwoord [work-word] - verb
(de) onbepaalde wijs infinitive
(de) basisvorm 2 3 verb stem

The Verb Stem and the Simple Present Tense

But for many verb stems you'll come up against the spelling/pronunciation rules for 'long' and 'short' vowels, written as double or single vowels with double or single consonants.
Removing the ‑EN ending from the verb infinitive doesn't change the pronunciation of the verb stem's vowel, the sound remains the same, but it may cause spelling changes.

'Long' and 'short' vowels are traditional names - the difference is actually more in tone than of length.

'Short' Vowels
- a - e - i - o - u

'Long' vowels:
- aa/a - ee/e - ie ( ii ) / i - oo/o - uu/u

'Long' I is never written as 'ii'  — if necessary it's written as 'ie.'

klinkers vowels
medeklinkers consonants: ‑>>
b - c - d - f - g - h - j - k - l - m - n - p - q - r - s - t - v - w - x - z

• Double vowels are always long
• A single vowel is long when followed by a single consonant that's followed by one or more vowels (like English 'silent E')
• A single vowel before a consonant that's the end of a word is short
• A single vowel before two or more consonants is short
• A long vowel before two or more different consonants needs to be written as a double vowel

(de) maan 2 / manen - moon / moons
(de) man 2 / mannen 2 - a man, a male / men, males
(de) mand / manden 2 / mand/manden 2 - basket / baskets
(de) maand / maanden / maand/maanden - month / months

A single vowel followed by a single consonant before the infinitive's ‑EN ending is 'long' ‑ stripping the ‑EN would leave a single vowel followed by a consonant that is the end of word, meaning the single vowel is 'short.' But except for the ‑EN ending the stem and the infinitive should sound the same, so the vowel needs to be doubled to keep it 'long.'

meaning	infinitive	remove  -EN	correct stem
~to get	halen 2	hal 2	haal
to measure	meten	met	meet 2
to hope	hopen 2	hop 2	hoop 2
to rent to lease	huren	hur	huur 2

hopen 2 'to hope' - verb stem:  hoop 2

hopen		to hope
ik hoop		I hope
jij hoopt		you hope (singular, informal you)
hij hoopt		he hopes
wij hopen		we hope
jullie hopen		you hope (plural, informal you)
zij hopen		they hope
U hoopt		you hope (polite you)
2

Double consonants in the middle of Dutch words indicate that a single vowel before them is 'short' — removing the infinitive's ‑EN ending would leave a double consonant at the end of the word, which is not necessary because a single consonant as the end of a word already means a single vowel before it is 'short' — and I can't think of a Dutch word that ends in a double consonant.

meaning	infinitive	remove  -EN	correct stem
to bake	bakken	bakk	bak 2
~to put	zetten	zett	zet
to pray	bidden	bidd	bid
to stop	stoppen	stopp	stop 2
to kiss	kussen 2	kuss	kus

kennen 'to know' - verb stem: ken 2 3

kennen		to know (people)
ik ken		I know
jij kent		you know (singular, informal you)
hij kent		he knows
wij kennen		we know
jullie kennen		you know (plural, informal you)
zij kennen		they know
U kent		you know (polite you)

Verbs with two or more different consonants before the ‑EN ending don't have a spelling change of its vowels, that's why I used uncomplicated denken  'to think' as the first example of the page.

The Dutch diphthongs (tweeklanken )

AU = OU     EI = IJ

EU     OE     UI

More Verb Stem Examples:

meaning	infinitive	remove -EN = correct stem
to skate	schaatsen	schaats 2 3
to crack, burst	barsten	barst
to ride a bicyle	fietsen 2	fiets 2 ‑>>
to search, look for	zoeken 2	zoek 2
to ride / to drive	rijden 2	rijd

fietsen		to ride a bike
ik fiets		I ride a bike
jij fietst		you ride a bike (singular, informal you)
hij fietst		he rides a bike
wij fietsen		we ride bikes
jullie fietsen		you ride bikes (plural, informal you)
zij fietsen		they ride bikes
U fietst		you ride a bike (polite you)
2		‑>>

The V/F and Z/S shift
Most verbs with a long vowel or diphthong with V or Z before the infinitive's ‑EN ending change to an F or S ending of the verb stem. There are no Dutch words ending in ‑V or ‑Z — in Dutch, V or Z are almost always followed by a vowel or diphthong.

meaning	infinitive	remove  -EN	correct stem
to write	schrijven 2 3	schrijv	schrijf
to read	lezen 2 3	lez	lees

lezen		to read
ik lees		I read, I am reading
jij leest		you read (singular, informal you)
hij leest		he reads
wij lezen		we read
jullie lezen		you read (plural, informal you)
zij lezen		they read
U leest		you read (polite you)

schrijven		to write
ik schrijf		I write
jij schrijft		you write (singular, informal you)
hij schrijft		he writes
wij schrijven		we write
jullie schrijven		you write (plural, informal you)
zij schrijven		they write
U schrijft		you write (polite you)

voiceless, unstressed E
A few verb infinitives of three or more syllables have a 'voiceless, unstressed E' (the 'schwa') with a single consonant before the ‑EN ending. That voiceless, unstressed E is not going to change, there is no 'long' or 'short' voiceless, unstressed E, so there's always just one consonant
winkelen 2 'to shop' - verb stem: winkel 2
another example:

aarzelen 2 to hesitate

aarzelen		to hesitate
ik aarzel		I hesitate
jij aarzelt		you hesitate (singular, informal you)
hij aarzelt		he hesitates
wij aarzelen		we hesitate
jullie aarzelen		you hesitate (plural, informal you)
zij aarzelen		they hesitate
U aarzelt		you hesitate (polite you)
2 3

The Simple Past Tense

You'll just have to memorize the three forms of the strong verbs. There is no logic, not really a system, though you'll notice some similarity with English verbs.

Strong verbs are usually listed like this:
vragen to ask	-	vroeg asked	-	gevraagd asked
infinitive	-	simple past tense	-	past participle
nemen to take	-	nam took	-	genomen taken

In the simple past tense the verb has two forms: singular and plural. For 'strong' verbs you could say there is a 'simple past verb stem' for the singular, and the plural adds ‑EN to that 'simple past stem'

So the simple past tense of vragen 2 'to ask' is:

vragen		to ask
ik vroeg		I asked
jij vroeg		you asked
hij vroeg		he asked
wij vroegen		we asked
jullie vroegen		y'all asked
zij vroegen		they asked
U vroeg		you asked

The simple past tense of nemen 'to take' is:

(nemen)		to take
ik nam		I took
jij nam		you took
hij nam		he took
wij namen		we took
jullie namen		y'all took
zij namen		they took
U nam		you took

There are some patterns in the forms of strong verbs, but I'm not sure that's really helpful for learning
Strong Verbs Patterns
Alphabetic List of Strong Verbs
A List of Strong Verbs with Related Words

Dutch has two types of 'weak' verbs.
Verb stems ending in T, K, F, S, CH and P (Dutch people remember this as the consonants of the word 't kofschip - an old ship type) - and a few recently adopted English verbs ending in X have endings with T
Verbs with stems ending in other letters have endings with D
To be more precise, weak verbs of the 't kofschip-type have ‑TE endings to the verb stem in the singular, and ‑TEN endings in the plural.
Weak verbs of the non‑'t kofschip-type have ‑DE endings to the verb stem in the singular, and ‑DEN endings in the plural.

So the simple past tense of hopen 2 'to hope' is:

(hopen)		to hope
ik hoopte		I hoped
jij hoopte		you hoped
hij hoopte		he hoped
wij hoopten		we hoped
jullie hoopten		y'all hoped
zij hoopten		they hoped
U hoopte		you hoped

The simple past tense of halen 2 'to get' - collect, obtain, acquire, fetch

(halen)		to get
ik haalde		I got
jij haalde		you got
hij haalde		he got
wij haalden		we got
jullie haalden		y'all got
zij haalden		they got
U haalde		you got

The V/F and Z/S Shift in the Simple Past Tense
Verbs that have a V/F or Z/S shift in the simple present tense also have it in the simple past tense:

'Schrijven' 2 3 'to write'

(schrijven)		(to write)
ik schreef		I wrote
jij schreef		you wrote
hij schreef		he wrote
wij schreven		we wrote
jullie schreven		y'all wrote
zij schreven		they wrote
U schreef		you wrote

'Lezen' 2 3 'to read'

(lezen)		to read
ik las		I read, I was reading
jij las		you read
hij las		he read
wij lazen		we read
jullie lazen		y'all read
zij lazen		they read
U las		you read

The V/F and Z/S Shifts and 't Kofschip
Weak verbs of the V/F and Z/S shifts have 't kofschip  verb stems ending in F and S but have D‑endings in the simple past tense

meaning	infinitive	stem	past tense (singular)
to blush	blozen	bloos	bloosde blushed
to fear	vrezen 2	vrees	vreesde 2 feared
to tremble	beven 2	beef 2	beefde 2 trembled
to believe	geloven 2	geloof 2 3	geloofde 2 believed
to shuffle, walk without energy	sloffen 2	slof	slofte 2 shuffled

(de) onvoltooid verleden tijd 2
['unfinished past time'] 'simple (imperfect) past tense'

The Perfect Tenses

Dutch uses the auxiliary verb hebben 'to have' though a few verbs use zijn - otherwise usually translated as 'to be.'
For later study: Verbs taking Zijn - It's Complicated

simple present tense hebben to have ik heb I have jij hebt you have hij heeft he has wij hebben we have jullie hebben y'all have zij hebben they have U heeft you have

simple past tense (hebben) to have ik had I had jij had you had hij had he had wij hadden we had jullie hadden y'all had zij hadden they had U had you had

simple present tense zijn to be ik ben I am jij bent you are hij is he is wij zijn we are jullie zijn y'all are zij zijn they are U bent you are

simple past tense (zijn) to be ik was I was jij was you were hij was he was wij waren we were jullie waren y'all were zij waren they were U was you were

The past participle in Dutch usually has a GE- prefix and for 't kofschip-verbs a ‑T and for non-'t kofschip-verbs a ‑D ending.
Strong verbs often an ‑EN ending, but a small number have a ‑D or ‑T ending.
About 30% of the strong verbs have the same vowel or diphthong in the simple present tense as in the past participle; about 45% of the strong verbs have the same vowel or diphthong in the simple past tense as in the past participle, and about 25% have a third vowel or diphthong in the past participle.
A small number of strong verbs have a past participle ending in ‑D or ‑T.
A few weak verbs have a past participle ending in ‑EN
There are unfortunately many irregularities and exceptions.

Examples:
ik heb gedronken	I have drunk
ik heb gegeten	I have eaten
ik heb gestemd 2	I have voted
Ik ben gegaan	I have gone
ik heb gelachen	I have laughed
ik heb brood gebakken 2 3	I have baked bread
ik heb gehad	I have had
ik ben geweest	I have been
ik had gehad 2	I had had
ik was geweest 2	I had been

Past participles are usually put at the end of the sentence:
Jan heeft Piet een boek gegeven. Jan has given Piet a book.

Beginnen  to begin, start

beginnen		to begin, start
ik begin		I'm beginning
wij beginnen		we're beginning
ik begon		I began
wij begonnen		we began
ik ben begonnen		I have begun
2 3		more beginnings

The Future Tense

'Zullen' 'shall/will' is the auxiliary verb for the future tense in Dutch. Next to it a verb infinitive is used.

(zullen)		shall/will
ik zal		I will/shall
jij zult		you will (singular, informal you)
hij zal		he will
wij zullen		we will/shall
jullie zullen		you will (plural, informal you)
zij zullen		they will
U zult		you will (polite you)

hij zal 2 3

Examples:
Ik zal schrijven 2	I will write (letters, 'stay in touch')
Ik zal opschieten 2	I'll hurry
Ik zal 't uitleggen	I'll explain [it]
Hoe zal 't aflopen?	How will it end?
Wie zal dat betalen? 2	Who will pay for that?

Verbs of motion, especially gaan 'to go' can (like in English) also be used as an informal future tense:
ik ga naar huis	I'm going home
hij gaat naar Rotterdam 2	he's going to Rotterdam
morgen gaat hij naar Den Haag 2	tomorrow he'll go to The Hague
morgen gaan we lijnen	tomorrow we'll start dieting
hij vertrekt morgen naar Afrika	he'll leave for Africa tomorrow
Als de dagen lengen, gaan de nachten strengen	As the days get longer, the nights will get more severe (i.e. colder)

de toekomende tijd 2 'the future tense'
(de) toekomst '(the) future'

to be continued ...

• the passive voice
• a Dutch continuous
• reflexive verbs
• splitting verbs
• irregular verbs
• combining verbs

Further Study

28 Verbs Teaching the Conjugation Rules
Get to Know the Common Verbs

Short Overview of 95 Common Verbs

'Mobile' (narrow pages)
Verbs Introduction
The Verb Stem
The Simple Present Tense
The Simple Past Tense
The Perfect Tenses
Strong Verbs in Dutch
- Alphabetic List
The Changes of Strong Verbs
- Patterns
The Future Tense

Complete Conjugation and Many Sample Sentences of 60 Common verbs:

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Gij zult niet stelen 'Thou shalt not steal'