The Dutch Past Tense

The Dutch Past Tense With Weak And Strong Verbs. A worksheet on simple past, the past participle and the present perfect.

The Dutch Past Tense With Weak And Strong Verbs

The Dutch use the simple past tense to refer to an event that took place in the past.

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Conjugation of a t-verb

ik	[stem] + te	we	[stem] + ten
je	[stem] + te	jullie	[stem] + ten
hij	[stem] + te	ze	[stem] + ten

Conjugation of a d-verb

ik	[stem] + de	we	[stem] + den
je	[stem] + de	jullie	[stem] + den
hij	[stem] + de	ze	[stem] + den

Examples

• merken (to notice) and wensen (to wish)

merken	stem: merk	wensen	stem: wens
ik	merkte	ik	wenste
je	merkte	je	wenste
hij	merkte	hij	wenste
we	merkten	we	wensten
jullie	merkten	jullie	wensten
ze	merkten	ze	wensten

Note the double ‘t’ in the conjugation of rusten and double ‘d’ in the conjugation of bloeden. You do not hear the double ‘d’ or ‘t’, but you do have to write it! Wij bloeden and wij bloedden are pronounced the same, but the first is the present tense, the latter the past.

• rusten (to rest) and bloeden (to bleed)

rusten	stem: rust	bloeden	stem: bloed
ik	rustte	ik	bloedde
je	rustte	je	bloedde
hij	rustte	hij	bloedde
we	rustten	we	bloedden
jullie	rustten	jullie	bloedden
ze	rustten	ze	bloedden

• luisteren (to listen) and kussen (to kiss)

luisteren	stem: luister	kussen	stem: kus
ik	luisterde	ik	kuste
je	luisterde	je	kuste
hij	luisterde	hij	kuste
we	luisterden	we	kusten
jullie	luisterden	jullie	kusten
ze	luisterden	ze	kusten

• roeien (to row) and lenen (to lend, to borrow)

roeien	stem: roei	lenen	stem: leen
ik	roeide	ik	leende
je	roeide	je	leende
hij	roeide	hij	leende
we	roeiden	we	leenden
jullie	roeiden	jullie	leenden
ze	roeiden	ze	leenden

For the perfect tense, they use a past participle.

To establish whether we are dealing with a t-verb or a d-verb, we have to look at the last letter of the verb stem. If this is t, h, f, c, k, s or p, (“pocket fish”) it is a t-verb, all other verbs are d-verbs.

past participle = ge + [stem] + t / d

Whether the past participle ends in a -t or -d depends of course on whether the verb is a t or a d-verb.

maken	to make	stem: maak (t-verb)	past participle: ge + maak + t = gemaakt
luisteren	to listen	stem: luister (d-verb)	past participle: ge + luister + d = geluisterd

In Dutch I have made becomes: ik heb gemaakt.

The ge + stem + t/d rule applies to most regular verbs, but there are also verbs that need an extra or different treatment.

For the perfect tense, they generally use the verb hebben (to have), just like in English: “You have worked”. For a few verbs we use zijn (to be).

ik	heb/ben + pp	we	hebben/zijn + pp
je	hebt/bent + pp	jullie	hebben/zijn + pp
hij	heeft/is + pp	ze	hebben/zijn + pp

A very useful web site is www.verbix.com. It conjugates Dutch verbs for you in all eight tenses.

Content

Level

This lesson can be used for adults from elementary to intermediate levels.

Aim

The aim of this lesson is to learn the past tenses in Dutch

Preparation

First print out the worksheet, then copy a worksheet for each student in the class.

Procedure

Go through the grammar and exercises together.