Personal form in the past tense
Regular verbs are also called sound verbs or weak verbs. The weak verbs do not change sound when they change tense. If the finite verb of a weak verb is in the past tense, you use +te(n) or +de(n).
- stem + te (singular)
- stem + ten (plural)
- stem + de (singular)
- stem + den (plural)
First you take the stem (I-shape) and put +te or +de behind it. Then you check whether the verb is plural or singular. If it is plural, you also add an ‘n‘ after it.
rennen
- ik ren
- ik rende
- wij renden
fietsen
- ik fiets
- ik fietste
- wij fietsten
If you don’t know whether the past tense is written with -de(n) or -te(n), you can use the kofschip (x). Other words for ‘kofschip’ are:Â sexy fokschaap of fokschaapshit.
The rule of ‘t kofschip (x):
- If the last letter of the stem is in the kofschip: +te(n) in the past tense
- If the last letter of the stem is not in the kofschip: +de(n) in the past tense
EXAMPLE:
werkwoord > fietsen
- stem: fiets
- the last letter is an ‘s’
- the ‘s’ IS in ‘t kofschip, so use a ‘t‘, +te(n)
- so: fietste(n)
werkwoord: rennen
- stem: ren
- the last letter is an ‘n’
- the ‘n’ IS NOT in ‘t kofschip, so use a ‘d‘, +de(n)
- So: rende(n)