Verb spelling: Don’t mess with your -d’s and -t’s

Verb spelling is one of the topics I regularly get questions about and also one of the things I regularly see go wrong. For example, when do you write happened or happened and when does it change or changed? You probably learned it at primary school and memorized it at secondary school, but if you are not involved with text and language on a daily basis, you could use some help. In this blog article I will explain the rules for verb spelling that I regularly see go wrong.

What is a verb?

A verb is a word that indicates that someone does something. In this sentence, that is, indicates and does. With verbs, you can often make a chart with nice rows with I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they and you with the present tense, past tense and past participles. In addition to these forms, I also explain the imperative mood in this article, because I also see this one go wrong regularly.

Example of a chart with the present tense, past tense and the past participle:

I do – did – have done
You do – did – have done
He/she/it does – did – has done
We/you/they do – did – have done
You do – did – has done

Verbs in the present tense and -t

In the present tense, so the first column in the row above, jij, hij, zij, het and u get a -t with the verb. You still hear this with verbs like lopen and haken (jij lopen and jij haakt), but with verbs that end in a -d it is often forgotten. As with hij wordt, vind, raadt, et cetera.

If ‘je’ is placed after the verb, the verb does not get a -t. Then you get, for example: Doe je wel zorgde? Or: Do you understand how it works?

Verbs in the past tense

Strong verbs and the past tense.

In the past tense we have to deal with strong how to build telemarketing data and weak verbs. Strong verbs change sound. For example, lopen is a strong verb, because in the past tense it becomes lopen. The ‘o’ changes to ‘ie’. Kopen is also such a strong verb, because in the past tense it is ‘we koopen’. Here the -p changes to -cht. Strong verbs are typical words that you have to know. So you learned this past tense at some point and you still know it. Like he walked, bought, found, etc.

Weak verbs and the (Ex-)kofschip

Weak verbs end in -de(n) or -te(n) in the past tense. To conjugate weak verbs, first find the stem of the verb by removing -en from the full verb. In werken, this becomes ‘werk’. If the last letter of the stem is in ‘t (ex-)kofschip, then you get -te after it in the past tense. The -k of werk is in ‘t kofschip, so then it becomes ‘werkte’: ik werkt, jij werkt, hij werkt and in the plural forms wij, jullie and zij werkten. In ‘vergroten’ the stem is ‘vergroot’ and the past tense is ‘vergrote(n)’, pay close attention to this, because you get a double -t. Note! ‘t ex-kofschip only works with the consonants, the e, i and o in it are only for the pronunciation of the mnemonic.

If the last letter of the stem is not in ‘t kofschip antontan-taratasy amin’ny kaody the past tense gets -de or -den after the stem. For example, throwing, stem: ‘gooi’, past tense ‘gooide(n)’. With teken the stem becomes ‘teken’ and the past tense ‘tekende(n)’. With ‘branden’ the stem is ‘brand’ and the past tense is ‘brandde(n)’. Pay close attention to the latter, because here you get a double -d.

Want to know more about strong and weak verbs? Watch this video .

This video about the coffee ship is also fun to watch .

Verb spelling and the past participle

A past participle is always in the sentence 1000 mobile phone numbers together with a personal form of the verb hebben, zijn or worden. A past participle often starts with ge-, ver- or be-. A past participle ends in -t, -en or -d. There are no rules for this, these are words that you have also learned and have to remember. You can still use ‘t (ex-)kofschip here. If the stem ends with a letter from ‘t ex-kofschip, then the past participle also ends with a -t. Think again of werken, stem: werk, ik heb werken.

Confusing verbs with ver-, be- and ge-

There are also verbs that always start with ver-, be- and ge-, regardless of whether it is a past participle or a regular verb. In this case, it is important to pay close attention to whether your verb is in the present tense with jij/hij/zij or het or in the past tense or a past participle. I will mention a number of them below, using the hij/zij/het row as an example, so that you can see the difference in the present and past tense and the past participle.

Happen (a verb that mainly belongs to the word ‘it’, hence only this variant)
It happens, it happened, it has happened

Change
He changes, he changed, it’s changed

Collecting
She collects, she collected, she has collected

Experience
He experiences, he experienced, he has experienced

Pay
She pays, she paid, she has paid

Verbs and the imperative mood

With the imperative mood, you often give an order or demand something from someone. The imperative mood is written as short as possible, so without a -t at the end. Think of:

Attention!
Keep your distance!
Make room!
Give here!
Cooperate!
Be polite!

English verbs

For English verbs that are often used in Dutch, follow the same rules. Think of relax:
I relax
You/he/she/it/you relax

Note: the -x is now also in ‘t kofschip. That’s why I also call it ‘t ex-kofschip. Then you get ‘faxten’ and ‘relaxten’ in the past tense with faxen and relaxen and ‘ik heb gerelaxt’ and ‘ik heb gefaxt’ with the past participles.

Don’t know how to conjugate verbs and still want to make sure that your texts for e-books, blogs and your website are in order? Then I’ll be happy to check your texts for you and you’ll have a text.