Dutch Verbs - The Verb Stem

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The conjugation of Dutch verbs starts with the verb stem. The English verb stem is simply the word after the 'to' of the infinitive. In principle, the Dutch verb stem is found by removing the -EN ending from the infinitive. (The infinitive is the verb form usually found in dictionaries or word lists.)

Uncomplicated Verb Stems		Complications

Spelling Rules		The V/F and Z/S Shifts

Irregular Stems		Irregular Verbs

Uncomplicated Verb Stems

meaning	infinitive	stem
to skate	schaatsen	schaats 2 3
to crack, burst	barsten	barst
to fast (not eat)	vasten	vast
to think	denken 2	denk 2 3
to bring	brengen 2	breng
to drink	drinken	drink
to jump	springen 2 3	spring
to lead	leiden	leid
to ride / to drive	rijden 2	rijd
to grab	grijpen	grijp
to cut (with knife)	snijden	snijd
to search, look for	zoeken 2	zoek 2
to cry, weep to howl (wolves)	huilen	huil
to ride a bicyle	fietsen 2	fiets 2

The verb stems in the examples above are 'regular' - removing the ‑EN ending gives you the verb stem - because they end in two different consonants or because they have a diphthong shortly before the ‑EN ending. Diphthongs are not 'long' or 'short' and vowels followed by a single or a double consonant before the ‑EN ending have the spelling rules changes.

Complications

Unfortunately, there are many exceptions to the basic verb stem rule. The stem formation is often complicated by:

The spelling rules for 'long' and 'short' vowels - more below
The V/F and Z/S shift - more below
The most common verbs have an irregular conjugation - more below

'Long' and 'Short' Vowels - The Spelling Rules

The most important complication with the verb stems has to do with the Dutch spelling rules for 'long' and 'short' vowels.
'Long' and 'short' are traditional names. The difference is actually more a matter of tone than of length.

short A	long A
short E	long E
'voiceless E' ('schwa')
short I	long I (IE)
short O	long O
short U	long U

'IE' is always long and is grouped under diphthongs in this context.
Dutch 'long A' sounds to me like the A in 'Chicago.'
Dutch 'voiceless E' sounds exactly the same as Dutch 'short U,' English 'uh.'
There is no sound in English like Dutch 'long U.'
'UW'

is always long.
Vowels are very often represented by other letters in English. For instance, Dutch 'long E' sounds like English A with silent E, and the sound of English EE is like Dutch IE/'long I' - more.

The Dutch diphthongs:

AU = OU

EI = IJ

Diphthongs are always 'long.'
(There are no sounds in English like Dutch EI/IJ, EU and UI.)

Adding an -E ending causes spelling changes, like you may have seen in in adjectives; so likewise, removing an -EN ending will lead to 'opposite' changes:

A double consonant after a single vowel will become a single consonant
for instance: doppen / dop
A single vowel before a single consonant will become a double vowel
for instance: lopen / loop

The sound of the vowel rarely changes, but the spelling does change following these rules:

A single vowel at the end of a word is 'long,' except single E which at the end of a word is almost always 'voiceless E' (the schwa )
a single vowel followed by a single consonant that is the end of the word is 'short'
a single vowel followed by a single consonant that is followed by another vowel is 'long'

meaning	infinitive	remove -EN	stem
~to get	halen 2	hal	haal
to bake	bakken	bakk	bak 2
to hope	hopen 2	hop	hoop 2
to stop	stoppen	stopp	stop 2
to rent (~hire)	huren	hur	huur 2
to kiss	kussen 2	kuss	kus
to stare	staren 2	star	staar
to knead	kneden 2	kned	kneed
to swim	zwemmen	zwemm	zwem
to sit, be seated	zitten	zitt	zit
to pray	bidden	bidd	bid
to fill	vullen 2	vull	vul
to extinguish (fire)	blussen 2	bluss	blus

There are a few not very common verbs with a stem of two or more syllables that have a 'voiceless E' ('schwa') as the stem's last vowel - which will remain a single vowel and the final consonant is also not going to double.

meaning	infinitive	stem
to shop	winkelen 2	winkel 2
to smuggle	smokkelen 2	smokkel
to saunter	slenteren 2	slenter
to draw, make a drawing	tekenen 2	teken 2 3

But some 'long' verb stems will have a long or a short vowel in their last syllable ... you'll have to memorize pronunciation.

meaning	infinitive	stem
to operate; perform surgery	opereren	opereer
to digest	verteren	verteer
to tell, relate	vertellen 2	vertel

The V/F and Z/S Shifts

A second, smaller group of stem exceptions are verbs with the V/F or Z/S shift. Some verb infinitives have a V or a Z before the -EN ending that will change to F or S in the stem.
In Dutch, V and Z are almost only found in front of vowels. (V can be found preceding L and R, for instance in vla

(a light pudding) and vrij

('free.')) At the end of a word or in front of most consonants V and Z change to F or S. This shift is also found in nouns and adjectives - >>. The V/F shift is also found in English, like in 'life/lives.'
The V/F and Z/S shift may also be combined with the long and short vowel spelling changes.

meaning	infinitive	remove -EN	stem
to rub	wrijven 2	wrijv	wrijf
to feign	veinzen	veinz	veins
to lose	verliezen 2	verliez	verlies
to dig	graven 2	grav	graaf
to give	geven 2	gev	geef
to read	lezen	lez	lees
to believe	geloven 2	gelov	geloof
to blush	blozen	bloz	bloos

Irregular Stems

Thirdly, a few common one-syllable verbs with double A or a diphthong have an irregular stem:

meaning	infinitive	stem
to go	gaan	ga 2
to stand, be standing	staan	sta
to slap, hit	slaan	sla
to see	zien	zie
to do	doen 2 3	doe

Irregular Verbs

Like in most languages, the most common verbs are the most irregular and it doesn't make sense to give a verb stem. These verbs will be dealt with early in the series.

meaning	infinitive
to be	zijn	more
to have	hebben	more
'will/shall' (the future tense)	zullen	more
to be allowed to, 'may'	mogen 2	more
to be able to, 'can'	kunnen	more

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