Dutch Irregular Verbs in the Present Tense

Learn spelling changes for common verbs in Dutch

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Dutch Irregular Verbs in the Present Tense  

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. Notice how the infinitive is still identical to the plural conjugations for wij, jullie, and zij, and the stem is identical to the ik form.

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?