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You’ve already worked your way through three chapters. Make sure you understood everything that appeared in those chapters. Make sure you understand the grammar and vocabulary and do make the exercises to practice. Also make sure you try to pronounce every Dutch sentence so you can practice your pronunciation.
Regular verbs
Let’s start now by learning a regular Dutch verb: “zeggen” (“to say” in English). In Dutch a regular verb in the present tense always has the same ending. That ending is underlined in the following example. The part of the verb that’s not underlined is called the stem, the part of the verb that always remains the same (although it might occur that the last consonant of the stem is repeated so the vowel before it retains the same sound. This is the case with this verb).
| Ik zeg | I say |
| Jij zegt | You say also applies to the formal form “u” |
| Hij/Zij/Het zegt | He/She/It says |
| Wij zeggen | We say |
| Jullie zeggen | You say |
| Zij zeggen | They say |
We’ll now discuss this conjugation somewhat more. The first person singular (“Ik”) is easy. It uses the full stem without any specific ending. The second person singular (“Jij”) gets an extra T behind the stem. So does the 3rd person singular (“Hij/Zij/Het”). Now all the plural forms have the same conjugation. Usually EN is added, except when the stem already ends in an E. Then only N is added. When the stem ends in a T it’s also unnecessary to add another T. But something strange can occur. The last consonant of the stem has to be repeated when it’s preceded by a vowel that would otherwise get a different sound. “zeg” is pronounced somewhat like “zech” (pronounce the ch like in the scottish word “loch”). And “zeggen” is pronounced like “zech-un”. When the last consonant wasn’t repeated it would say “zegen” and would be pronounced like “zai-chun”. So you see that’s you have to repeat the consonant in some occasions because the sound of the stressed vowel might change otherwise, and that never happens with regular verbs. Now a simpler verb: “kijken”, meaning “to look/to watch”.
| Ik kijk | I watch |
| Jij kijkt | You watch |
| Hij/Zij/Het kijkt | He/She/It watches |
| Wij kijken | We watch |
| Jullie kijken | You watch |
| Zij kijken | They watch |
Note that the infinitive verb (the unconjugated form, in English preceded by “to” as in “to see”) ends on EN in Dutch. Drop the EN and you have the stem of the verb. Then you can go conjugate it.
You already know that the stressed vowel in a regular verb always has the same sound. This sound is copied from the infinitive verb. So besides adding an extra consonant there is also the matter of adding an extra vowel. Before you continue reading, make very sure you understand everything about the Dutch pronunciation.
Let’s take a look at the verb “praten” (“to speak / to talk”) for example. The infinitive verb is pronounced as “pra-tun” (with the A pronounced differently than in English, with a long open sound). It has this special long sound because the A appears at the end of a syllable.
When you would say “Ik prat” then that special sound would be lost because an “A” in the middle of a syllable has a very different sound.
That’s why instead of “ik prat” they say “ik praat”, to retain the same sound as in the infinitive verb. Remember this! Note that in the 1st person plural (“wij”), it’s not needed to use this double vowel (double vowels never occur at the end of a syllable): “Wij praten”.
The full conjugation of “praten” can be found below:
| Ik praat | I speak |
| Jij praat | You speak |
| Hij/Zij/Het praat | He/she/it speaks |
| Wij praten | We speak |
| Jullie praten | You speak |
| Zij praten | They speak |
There are actually three types of regular verbs (strong verbs and two types of weak verbs) but this only effects the past tense of the verb. The present tense is equal to all three types, so we won’t look into this matter now.
Negation
Now we’re going to talk about negation, because you might want to say: “That is NOT a house”, “and that is NO dog”. In Dutch there are two word for “no”: “geen” and “niet”. “geen” is used when talking about nouns. It’s a kind of adjective.
“niet” is used with verbs. It’s a kind of adverb. For example, when denying quantity of a specific noun you use “geen”, as in “ik heb geen hond” (“I have no dog”).
“niet” can be used to deny a verb. “Ik kijk niet” (“I am not looking”). It then appears after the verb and the direct object (at the end of the sentence). “geen” always appears directly after the verb and before the direct object.
A little trick to remember whether to use “geen” or “niet”: “geen” applies to having “none” of something; “niet” can never be substituted by “none”.
That’s enough material for now. Make sure you understand it. It’s quite hard, so don’t hesitate to reread this lesson a couple of times.
Vocabulary
Learn the following words. From now on there will also be regular verbs (or at least verbs that are regular in the present tense) in the list.
Vocabulary
| kijken | to watch / to look |
| weten | to know |
| praten | to speak |
| zeggen | to say |
| lopen | to walk |
| rennen | to run |
| zien | to see |
| het kind | het child (plural: de kinderen) |
| de man | the man |
| de vrouw | the woman |
| de appel | the apple |
| nederlands | dutch |
| engels | english |
Exercises
Exercise A: Translate to English:
1) Ik zie de foto’s.
2) De man rent.
3) Het kind wil jouw boeken.
4) De vrouwen zien de man niet.
5) Ik zie geen kinderen.
6) Hij heeft geen paarden.
7) Het kind weet veel.
8) Wij weten veel.
9) Dit zijn geen dieren.
10) De vrouw kijkt niet.
11) U spreekt Nederlands.
12) Zij spreken Engels.
Exercise B: Fill in the blanks, “NIET” or “GEEN” ?
1) Ik heb …… appels.
2) Ik zie de stoel …….
3) De man heeft ……. hond.
4) De vrouw ziet ……… kinderen.
5) Ik kijk ……….
6) De vrouw ziet de kinderen ………..
Exercise C: Translate to Dutch:
1) I see a tree.
2) You do not see this child.
3) We speak Dutch.
4) I have no children.
5) She sees this man.
6) This isn’t her grandfather.
7) You speak Dutch.
8) They see my house.
9) They know this.
10) I am not Dutch.
11) We do not have those keys.
Solutions
Solution of Exercise A:
1) I see the photos.
2) The man runs.
3) The child wants your books.
4) The women do not see the man.
5) I see no children.
6) He has no horses.
7) The child knows much.
8) We know much.
9) These are not animals.
10) The woman doesn’t look.
11) You speak Dutch.
12) They speak English.
Solution of Exercise B:
1) Ik heb GEEN appels.
2) Ik zie de stoel NIET.
3) De man heeft GEEN hond.
4) De vrouw ziet GEEN kinderen.
5) Ik kijk NIET.
6) De vrouw ziet de kinderen NIET.
Solution of exercise C:
1) Ik zie een boom.
2) U ziet dit kind niet. OR Jij ziet dit kind niet.
3) Wij spreken Nederlands.
4) ik heb geen kinderen.
5) Zij ziet deze man.
6) Dit is haar opa niet.
7) U spreekt Nederlands. OR Jij spreekt Nederlands.
8) Zij zien mijn huis.
9) Zij weten dit.
10) Ik ben niet Nederlands. (“Nederlands” is not a direct object)
11) Wij hebben die sleutels niet.
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