Werkwoorden en vervoegen/ Verbs and Conjugation

WERKWOORDEN (verbs)

are things that you do:

• fietsen (cycle), lopen (walking), spelen (playing),slapen (sleeping), werken (working) etc.

Or something that happens:

• sneeuwen(snowing), waaien (storming), regenen (raining)…

Or someone is something:

• Gek (crazy), raar(strange), groot (big), ziek (sick)
  

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• Verbs can change in a sentence and will tell you the sentence is in present or past time.
• There can be more than one verb in a sentence.
• There are STERKE WERKWOORDEN (strong/regular verbs) that will change pronunciation when the tenses changes.

ZWAKKE WERKWOORDEN (weak/irregular verbs) their pronunciation don’t change that much when the tenses change.

You have to learn how to conjugate verbs in order to use them correct while speaking Dutch or writing Dutch.

So a verb is nothing more than a word that indicates what you do, an activity. Examples of verbs are: ‘walk’, ‘run’, ‘cycle’ and ‘dive’. Sometimes a verb is difficult to recognize. This is, for example, the case with ‘go‘ (GAAN), ‘be‘ (ZIJN) and ‘have‘ (HEB).

In Dutch there are a lot of ways to conjugate verbs, to start with we will discuss 3:
present tense

present perfect

simple past tense

If you can handle those 3, we will discuss the other 3: past perfect tense, simple present Future tense, perfect future tense.

For example, the VERB Fietsen (to cycle):

ik fietste
jij/u (je) fietste
hij/zij fietsten
wij (we) fietsten
jullie fietsten
zij (ze) fietsten[/span4][span4]voltooid tegenwoordige tijd (present perfect)
ik heb gefietst
jij/u (je) hebt gefietst
hij/zij heeft gefietst
wij(we)hebben gefietst
jullie hebben gefietst
zij (ze) hebben gefietst

PRESENT TENCE (tegenwoordige tijd)

The first tense is the present tense. The present tense describes something that is happening now or in the future. There are three options for verb spelling in the present tense: Stem, Stem + T or Stem + En. There is one exception. This is when a sentence is interrogative – a question – , for example: ‘Are you going to the game tomorrow?’.

ik fiets
jij/u (je) fietst
hij/zij fietst
wij (we) fietsen
jullie fietsen
zij (ze) fietsen

PAST TENCE (VERLEDEN TIJD)

The second tense described is the past tense. The past tense indicates that something happened in the past. There are two types of past tense: past tense of regular verbs and past tense of irregular verbs. First the past tense of regular verbs.

There are four options for verb spelling in the past tense of regular verbs:
stem +DE

stem +DEN

stem + TE

stem + TEN

The past tense of regular verbs uses the ending –de, -den, -te or –ten. Whether you use an ending with -d or -t depends on the last letter of the word and whether it is in the ‘T EX-kofschip.

To determine whether the past participle or the past tense has a d or t, first take the stem (= whole verb -en) of the verb. If it ends in a consonant from the ‘T EX-kofschip, the word gets -t. If the last letter of the stem is not there, you write -d. And for speech remember that sometimes in Dutch a D get pronounced as a T

Examples:

ik fietste
jij/u (je) fietste
hij/zij fietsten
wij (we) fietsten
jullie fietsten
zij (ze) fietsten

ik voetbalde
jij/u (je) voetbalde
hij/zij voetbalden
wij (we) voetbalden
jullie voetbalden
zij (ze) voetbalden

With irregular verbs (STERKE WERKWOORDEN) the past tense is different, the sound of the verb changes. When conjugating irregular verbs in past tense, you do not use the regular stem, but the past tense stem. Examples of irregular verbs:

• lopen – gelopen
• slapen – geslapen
• bedriegen – bedrogen
• zijn – geweest
• worden – geworden
• doen – gedaan
• eten – gegeten
• hebben – hadden

PRESENT PERFECT (VOLTOOID TEGENWOORDIGE TIJD)

The present perfect is used to describe a single fact, a single event. This often concerns something that took place recently, but it can also refer to a more distant past. This often concerns a fact or incident that is considered completed. The past tense of regular verbs uses the ending:

GE + stem + d

GE + stem + t or

GE + stem + en

Whether you use an ending with -d or -t depends on the last letter of the word and whether it is in the ‘T EX-kofschip.

Examples:

ik heb gefietst
jij/u (je) hebt gefietst
hij/zij heeft gefietst
wij(we)hebben gefietst
jullie hebben gefietst
zij (ze) hebben gefietst

In the case of a strong verb, it always ends in –en. An auxiliary verb is also used with a past participle, such as ‘have’ (HEB).

Examples:

ik heb gelopen
jij hebt gelopen
hij/zij/het heeft gelopen
wij/jullie/zij hebben gelopen