Verbs are changeable entities: they change with different subjects, different tenses, different moods.
This video will cover Dutch verbs in the present tense, or to be precise:
the conjugation of the Dutch verb in the present tense.
To conjugate a verb means matching the verb to the subject.
For example, we say: ‘I see’, but: ‘she sees’.
It is the subject ‘I’, or ‘she’, that dictates the form of the verb.
The good news is that the Dutch verb is not too complicated to conjugate,
but there are some spelling rules to get to grips with.
However, if you know the spelling rules for the verb, you know them for the entire language,
so we are killing several birds with one stone.
Let’s start with some basics.
First some technical talk.
In this video, we distinguish between singular and plural forms of the verb,
and between 1st, 2nd and 3rd person.
This is the table.
So, the first person singular is: ‘ik’ (‘I’) and the first person plural is: ‘wij’,
also known as ‘we’ (and it’s ‘we’ in English).
Also note, there are two versions of the 2nd person singular ‘you’: ‘jij’ or ‘u’.
‘Jij’ is common, ‘u’ is formal.
Now let’s look at what the Dutch verb looks like.
Here are some examples of Dutch verbs:
Heten, slapen, rennen, fietsen.
You notice that they have one thing in common: they all end in ‘-en’.
This ‘-en’ ending applies to the vast majority of Dutch verbs.
Let’s get the plural forms out of the way first.
So: wij/jullie/zij.
Here is the rule: All plural forms of the verb are the same as the full verb.
There is no exception to this rule.
So the verb for ‘to ride a bike’ is ‘fietsen’.
Let’s conjugate it.
So, with the plural forms out of the way, let’s look at the singular forms.
For the singular, we first have to find the so-called stem of the verb.
Once we have the stem, we add the ending.
Rule: You add a ‘t’ to the stem in all singular cases, except for 1st person.
In case of ‘ik’, you just use the stem.
So, ik = just the stem
Jij/u = stem + t
Hij/zij/het = stem + t
Here comes a rule!
The stem is the full verb without the ‘-en’.
That is very simple when you just say the words.
For example, the word ‘kopen’ has the stem ‘koop’.
The word ‘hollen’ has the stem ‘hol’.
Just chop off the ‘-en’ ending.
However, when you have to write them down, we have to take a few spelling rules into account.
It is worth flagging up that Dutch is quite logical and consistent when it comes to spelling.
So, follow the rules and you will get the correct answer.
Let’s go stem finding and ending sticking.
I will distinguish three types of verbs
that require slightly different stem finding methods
and one bonus category.
Here come the three types.
The Jazz category for verbs that have a double consonant.
The VCV category for verbs that have the pattern vowel consonant vowel.
And the Don't Touch It category for the verbs that do not fit in any of the other categories.
All these categories render a stem ready to take our endings, or not in the case of ‘ik’.
Let’s start with the Jazz category.
Examples of verbs that fall in this category are: hollen, trekken, zitten, klappen.
What these verbs have in common, is the doubled consonant,
so the same consonant twice, before the ‘-en’.
So in this case ‘ll’, ‘kk’, ‘tt’, etc.
Let’s find the stem for ‘hollen’.
First, we chop off the ’–en’ at the end.
We are left with a stem that ends in a doubled consonant, like Jazz.
But, and here comes the rule:
Dutch words NEVER EVER end in a doubled consonant, so the same consonant twice
(except jazz – and of course jazz is a loan from English).
So after chopping off the ‘-en’, we get ‘holl’.
But the ‘ll’ is against the spelling rules,
so all we have to do, is chop off one of the consonants,
making the stem of hollen: ‘hol’.
We have found a stem, so now all we have to do is add a ‘t’ to that stem,
but only for second and third person, making it:
But wait a minute, what about verbs like ‘zitten’, so a verb with the stem that ends in a ‘t’.
With ‘zitten’, we start as normal – so chop off the ‘-en’:
‘zitt’, doubled consonant, so drop a ‘t’, to get the stem: ‘zit’.
Now, add the endings where necessary.
Oh, no! The double consonant rule kicks in again,
so, and here’s another rule:
Do NOT add a ‘t’, if the stem already ends in a ‘t’.
So the spelling rules always supersede the conjugation rule.
Let’s go to the next category: the VCV category.
Examples of verbs that fall in this category are:
Praten, heten, horen, huren.
What they share is the same pattern:
namely, a single e/a/o/u followed by a single consonant before ‘-en’.
We call this the VCV category (vowel consonant vowel)
and note that the first vowel is a single e/a/o/u
and not part of a compound vowel, like the ‘oe’ as in ‘poes’.
See what happens here. Take the verb ‘heten’.
First we chop off ‘-en’ and you end up with ‘het’.
But we need the longer sound: ‘heten’.
So in order to keep the same sound in the stem and the full verb,
we double the vowel: ‘heet’.
So here comes the rule:
In a VCV verb you double the a/e/o/u in the stem.
Let’s do one more VCV verb: ‘spelen’.
Knock off the ‘-en’: ‘spel’.
But this is a VCV verb, so we want to maintain the long sound,
so we double the ‘e’: ‘speel’.
Which then becomes:
when you add the 't'.
Let’s go to our final category:
Don’t Touch It (Niks meer aan doen)
If the verb doesn’t fall into the first two categories, it falls into this one.
For example, the words ‘werken’, ‘fietsen’, ‘vliegen’.
Just like in all other cases, we start by taking off the ‘-en’,
leaving us with ‘werk’, ‘fiets’, ‘vlieg’.
And this is where we stop: don't touch it,
because ‘werk’, ‘fiets’ en ‘vlieg’ is the stem,
and we don't need to add or change anything.
And finally there is our bonus or top up category: the VZ FS category.
Verbs fall into this bonus category when the last letter before ‘-en’ is a ‘z’ or a ‘v’.
An example is: ‘verhuizen’ or ‘leven’.
First we need to check which main category the verb falls in.
Let's take ‘verhuizen’.
This verb does not have a double consonant in the middle and it's not a VCV situation,
so it sits in the Don't Touch It category, which means that all we have to do is drop off ‘-en’.
Now here comes a general rule:
Dutch words NEVER end in a 'z' or a 'v'.
At the end of a stem, a ‘z’ changes into ‘s’ and a ‘v’ changes into ‘f’.
So, let’s take ‘verhuizen’.
Chop off the ‘-en’: ‘verhuiz’ – ‘z’ changes into ‘s’,
so the stem of 'verhuizen' is ‘verhuis’.
Finally look at ‘leven’.
First, we find the verb category.
This is a clear VCV verb: a single ‘e’ for the single consonant.
So that means we have to double the vowel in the stem, the single ‘e’ becomes a double ‘e’.
So: ‘leven’. Chop off ‘-en’ becomes ‘lev’, need to double it: ‘leev’.
Aha! A ‘v’ at the end of a word doesn't work, so ‘v’ changes into ‘f’:
the stem of ‘leven’ is ‘leef’.
Now add the endings:
For good measure, let’s look at all the subject options.
And the plural, remember the plural is always the full verb:
So, this is how you conjugate the Dutch verb in the present tense.
Let me end with a piece of advice and some reassurance.
First the piece of advice.
When you start conjugating the verb, take your time to identify
which category the verb falls into, so which spelling rules apply.
Then apply the rules, follow the steps carefully, et voilà.
Then, some reassurance:
After a while, you will begin to recognise what the conjugated verb looks like,
you develop a word picture.
By that time, these rules and categories will appear like a distant tune,
a song from the past.