This article explains the conjugation of verbs in Dutch by their classification, which is based on conjugational class and derivation. These classifications describe different aspects of verb structure and usage.
Classification of verbs
By conjugational class Dutch verbs can be grouped by their conjugational class, as follows:
Weak verbs: past tense and past participle formed with a dental suffix Weak verbs with past in -de Weak verbs with past in -te Strong verbs: past tense formed by changing the vowel of the stem, past participle in -en Class 1: pattern ij-ee-ee Class 2: pattern ie-oo-oo or ui-oo-oo Class 3: pattern i-o-o or e-o-o Class 4: pattern ee-a/aa-oo Class 5: pattern ee-a/aa-ee or i-a/aa-ee Class 6: pattern aa-oe-aa Class 7: pattern X-ie-X (specifically, oo-ie-oo, a-ie-a, a-i-a, ou-iel-ou, aa-ie-aa or oe-ie-oe) Other strong verbs, which do not follow any of the above patterns Mixed verbs Weak past tense (-de or -te), but strong past participle (-en) Strong past tense (vowel change), but weak past participle (-d or -t) Irregular verbs: verbs that do not clearly conjugate as any of the above Preterite-present verbs: verbs that originally had present tense forms identical to the past of a strong verb Weak verbs with past in -cht Other irregular verbs
By derivation
Another way to group verbs is by the type of derivation. The following can be distinguished:
Basic: underived, compounded, or derived without prefixation Prefixed: with an unstressed prefix Separable: with a stressed adverbial (or rarely object-like) prefix
Most of this article shows the conjugation of basic verbs. The differences in prefixed and separable verbs are described here, and can be applied to any verb regardless of conjugation.
Prefixed verbs
Prefixed verbs are verbs whose stem begins with an unstressed prefix. The prefix is usually one of be-, ge-, her-, ont-, ver-, but others are also possible, often derived from adverbs or prepositions. Prefixed verbs are conjugated like basic verbs, except in the past participle. In the past participle, the inflectional prefix ge- is replaced by the verb's own prefix, and it is not added on. The past participle of her‧openen ("to reopen") is her‧opend (not *ge‧her‧opend), and for be‧talen ("to pay") it is be‧taald (not *ge‧be‧taald).
In some cases, two verbs exist that are spelled identically, but with one treating an adverb as a prefix, while the other treats it as separable. Such pairs are stressed and thus pronounced differently, and accent marks are sometimes written when there is a chance of confusion: voorkómen ("to prevent", prefixed) versus vóórkomen ("to occur", separable), or onder‧gáán ("to undergo", prefixed) versus ónder‧gaan ("to go under, to set", separable).
Prefixed verbs can be derived from basic verbs or from another prefixed verb. With the prefix her- ("again, re-"), it is also possible to derive prefixed verbs from separable verbs, but such verbs are often defective, with the separated (V2-affected) forms often being avoided by speakers. For example, the verb her‧in‧richten ("to rearrange, to redecorate") is a combination of the prefix her- and the separable verb in‧richten. According to the syntactical rules, this must become Ik richt de kamer herin. ("I redecorate the room"), but using herin as a separable particle is often avoided as it is not an independent word (unlike the separable particles of most other verbs). Many speakers choose to rephrase it using the adverb opnieuw ("again, anew"): Ik richt de kamer opnieuw in. In subordinate clauses or with a non-finite verb, there is less objection: Mijn vriend keek toe, terwijl ik de kamer herinrichtte. ("My friend looked on, while I redecorated the room.") or Ik heb de kamer heringericht. ("I have redecorated the room.").
Compound verbs borrowed from French or Latin are conjugated like prefixed verbs, but their past participle is made with ge-: con-strueren ("to construct"), ge‧con‧strueerd; pro‧duceren ("to produce"), ge‧pro‧duceerd (cf. German pro‧duziert, kon‧struiert).
Separable verbs
Separable verbs are combinations of a main verb (which can be basic or prefixed) and a particle. This particle is usually an adverb, but sometimes it can be a direct object or adjective instead. The particle is stressed more strongly than the main verb, which distinguishes separable verbs from prefixed verbs in pronunciation. The main verb of a separable verb is conjugated like it otherwise would, and can be basic (with ge- in the past participle) or prefixed (without ge-).
The particle is treated syntactically as a separate verb, and is placed before or after the main verb as syntax dictates: When the V2 rule is in effect (in main clauses with a finite verb), the particle is placed after the main verb and separated from it with a space. It can also be separated from it by other words, just like in a sentence with multiple distinct verbs. When the V2 rule is not applied (in subordinate clauses or with a non-finite verb), the particle is placed directly before the main verb and is attached to it without a space.
The following table shows some examples of this in practice (the hyphens serve to highlight the various verb parts, but are not part of the official orthography for these verbs):
Infinitive With V2 Without V2(subordinate clause) Without V2(non-finite verb) om‧vallen ("to fall over")basic main verb, strong class 7 Ik val om.I fall over. Hij ziet niet dat ik om‧val.He doesn't see that I fall over. Ik ben om‧ge‧vallen.I have fallen over. uit‧komen ("to come true")basic main verb, strong class 4 Mijn wens kwam vandaag uit.My wish came true today. Het is ongelooflijk dat mijn wens vandaag uit‧kwam.It is unbelievable that my wish came true today. Mijn wens is vandaag uit‧ge‧komen.My wish has come true today. uit‧betalen ("to pay out")prefixed main verb, weak in -d Gisteren betaalde zij het geld uit.Yesterday she paid out the money. Ik weet niet of zij het geld gisteren uit‧betaalde.I don't know if she paid out the money yesterday. Zij heeft het geld uit‧betaald.She has paid out the money.
Forms and endings
Dutch verbs conjugate for tense in present and past, and for mood in indicative, subjunctive and imperative. The subjunctive mood in Dutch is archaic or formal, and is rarely used. There are two grammatical numbers (singular and plural) and three grammatical persons. However, many forms are identical to others, so the conjugation does not have distinct forms for all possible combinations of these factors (that is, there is considerable syncretism). In particular, there is always just one form for the plural, and only in the present indicative is there a clear distinction among the different singular persons.
Each second-person pronoun may have its own form. The following can be distinguished:
singular informal jij singular and plural formal u singular and plural southern gij plural informal jullie
All regular verbs, whether weak, strong or mixed, form the present tense in the same way. This also includes the infinitive and present participle. Only the formation of the past tense differs among regular verbs, depending on whether the verb is strong, weak or mixed. The endings are as follows:
Infinitive -enMoodPerson Present Weak past Strong pastIndicative 1st sg ik – -de, -te – 2nd sg jij -t1 2 – 2nd sg+pl gij -t1 -de(t), -te(t)3 -t1 3 2nd sg+pl u -de, -te – 3rd sg hij, zij, het – pl wij, jullie, zij -en -den, -ten -enSubjunctive ikjij, gij, uhij, zij, het -e -de, -te -e pl wij, jullie, zij -en5 -den, -ten -enImperative General – Plural -t1Participles -end (ge-) -d, (ge-) -t1 4 (ge-) -en4
Notes: When the stem of a verb ends in -t already, the ending -t is not added on: apart from a few exceptions (putt, watt, etc.) a word cannot end in -tt. Similarly, when the stem ends in -d the additional -d in the weak past participle is not added. When the second-person jij-form is followed immediately by the subject pronoun itself (jij or je), the verb does not end in -t: Jij werkt → Werk jij? ("You work" → "Do you work?"). With the verbs houden, rijden and verbs derived from them, the -d of the stem can be dropped if it is not followed by -t (e.g. hou jij van bloemen 'do you like flowers?'), which in a formal context is usually not done. The -t is added in all other cases, except when the verb stem already ends in t. The additional -t of the second-person gij-form is optional in the past tense for weak verbs and is usually considered archaic. For strong verbs, the -t is always required, except when the stem ends in t, e.g. gij liet. The prefix ge- of the past participle is not added when the verb is a prefixed verb. See above for more information. In archaic language, the ending -t with jullie is also possible (and survives in Brabantian dialect), e.g. jullie loopt naar school 'you walk to school'.
All forms of a given regular verb can be predicted from just three forms, or sometimes four. These are the principal parts of a verb.
The infinitive, which represents the present tense. The past singular, which represents the past tense (except the past participle). The past plural, for some strong verbs. Normally, the past plural can be predicted from the past singular, but in class 4 and 5 strong verbs, the past singular has a short vowel while it is long in the plural. The past subjunctive singular, and the past indicative second-person singular gij form have the same long vowel as the past plural, if it is distinct. The past participle, by itself.
In the sections that follow, only the principal parts of each verb are given when this is sufficient to describe the full conjugation of the verb.
Present tense
As noted above, the present tense of all regular verbs is formed in the same way, and follows the same rules. The following table shows the conjugation of two verbs in the present tense: Infinitivevullen ("to fill")leren ("to learn, to teach")Indicative mood1st sg ik vulleer2nd sg jijvultleert2nd sg+pl gij2nd sg+pl u3rd sg hij, zij, hetpl wij, jullie, zij vullenlerenSubjunctive moodikjij, gij, uhij, zij, het vullelerepl wij, jullie, zij vullenlerenImperative moodGeneral vulleerPlural vultleertParticiple vullendlerend If the stem ends in -v or -z, then these are spelled -f and -s at the end of a syllable. Infinitiveleven ("to live")blozen ("to blush")Indicative mood 1st sg ik leefbloos 2nd sg jij leeft bloost 2nd sg+pl gij 2nd sg+pl u 3rd sg hij, zij, het pl wij, jullie, zij levenblozenSubjunctive mood ikjij, gij, uhij, zij, het levebloze pl wij, jullie, zij levenblozenImperative mood General leefbloos Plural leeft bloostParticiple levendblozend If the stem ends in -t, then no additional -t ending is added when this would otherwise be required, as a word cannot end in a double consonant (-tt in this case) in Dutch spelling. This makes all present singular forms identical. Infinitivezetten ("to set, to place")Indicative mood ikjij, gij, uhij, zij, het zet pl wij, jullie, zij zettenSubjunctive mood ikjij, gij, uhij, zij, het zette pl wij, jullie, zij zettenImperative mood AllzetParticiple zettend
Past tense
The past tense is formed differently depending on whether the verb is weak, strong or mixed.
Weak verbs
Weak verbs are the most common type of verb in Dutch, and the only productive type (all newly created verbs are weak, except most new formations with a strong-verb stem). They form their past tense with an ending containing a dental consonant, -d- or -t-.
Whether -d- or -t- is used depends on the final pronounced phoneme of the verb stem as it sounds in the infinitive verb form. If the stem ends in a voiceless consonant, then -t- is used, otherwise -d-. It is often summarised with the mnemonic "'t kofschip": if the verb stem ends with one of the consonants of 't kofschip (t, k, f, s, ch, p), then the past tense will have -t-. However, it also applies for c, q and x and any other letter that is voiceless in pronunciation.