When you add the present tense endings, you must observe the regular
spelling rules in Dutch. Words with long vowels (aa, ee, oo, and uu) drop the
one vowel when another syllable is added. Words with the short vowels (a, e,
i, o and u) double the following consonant to keep the vowels short. The letters
f and s occur at the end of words or before consonants, while the letters v
and z occur in the middle of words before vowels.
Infinitive | Stem | ik form | jij, hij, etc. | wij, jullie, etc. | |
| betalen blijven hopen raden geloven schrijven kiezen haten leven lezen praten rijden wassen gaan staan slaan | to pay to stay to hope to guess to believe to write to choose to hate to live to read to talk to ride to wash to go to stand to hit | betaal blijf hoop raad geloof schrijf kies haat leef lees praat rijd was ga sta sla | betaal blijf hoop raad geloof schrijf kies haat leef lees praat rijd was ga sta sla | betaalt blijft hoopt raadt gelooft schrijft kiest haat leeft leest praat rijdt wast gaat staat slaat | betalen blijven hopen raden geloven schrijven kiezen haten leven lezen praten rijden wassen gaan staan slaan |
One verb that does not follow the spelling rule is komen.
The singular forms are all written and pronounced with the short o, while the
plural forms are written and pronounced with the long o: kom, komt and komen.
(According to the spelling rules, the singular forms should be the long o, but
they are not.)
There are five verbs whose ending is only -n: gaan (to go),
staan (to stand), slaan (to hit), doen (to do) and zien
(to see); the first three change according to the spelling rules.
If a stem ends in -t, you do not add another -t for the second and
third person singular forms. zitten - to sit; hij zit - he sits
Verb stems that end in -oud and -ijd drop the -d in the first person
singular and in question forms of the second person singular form. The -d can
be written, but it is not pronounced. rijden - to ride; ik rij(d)
- I ride; rij(d) jij? - do you ride?
This article was used with permission from:
Indo-European Languages