Participles as adjectives in Dutch: een gekookt ei, het gestolen geld

A boiled egg, a broken leg, the stolen money, a closed door. English turns past participles into adjectives all the time, and so does Dutch: een gekookt ei, een gebroken been, het gestolen geld, een gesloten deur. You already know the forms from the perfect tense. This guide explains the one extra thing you need: when a participle gets an -e and when it doesn't.

The basic idea

Any past participle of a verb that can take an object can be put in front of a noun as an adjective. It then describes something that has had the action done to it.

• koken → gekookt → een gekookt ei — a boiled egg
• stelen → gestolen → het gestolen geld — the stolen money
• vertalen → vertaald → de vertaalde tekst — the translated text
• breken → gebroken → een gebroken raam — a broken window
• aankleden → aangekleed → een aangeklede pop — a dressed doll

Separable and inseparable verbs work the same way: the participle is just the one you already know from the perfect tense.

The -e rule: weak versus strong participles

Here is the key rule.

Participles ending in -d or -t (mostly weak verbs) behave like normal adjectives. They take -e before a noun, except after een, geen or no article with a singular het word. See adjective endings for the general system.

Participles ending in -en (strong verbs) never take an extra -e. They stay the same in every position.

More examples:

• de geopende fles — the opened bottle
• een verwend kind — a spoiled child
• het verwende kind — the spoiled child
• de gebakken eieren — the fried eggs
• een gesloten deur — a closed door
• de geschreven tekst — the written text
• een gevonden voorwerp — a found object (het bureau gevonden voorwerpen is the lost-and-found office)

Wrong: de gestolene fiets. Wrong: een gekookte ei.

Spelling when you add -e

Adding -e follows the usual spelling rules. Most participles just add the letter: gekookt → gekookte, geverfd → geverfde, betaald → betaalde. If the participle ends in a short vowel plus one consonant, the consonant doubles: gezet → gezette (op gezette tijden — at set times).

Participles used as nouns

When an -en participle becomes a noun for a person, it does take -e: gevangen → de gevangene (the prisoner), betrokken → de betrokkenen (the people involved). So the no--e rule is for adjectives in front of a noun.

Passive or active meaning?

For most verbs, the participle has a passive meaning: the noun is the thing the action was done to.

• het gestolen geld = the money that was stolen
• de verkochte auto = the car that was sold
• het gerepareerde dak = the roof that was repaired

But verbs that form their perfect tense with zijn (verbs of movement and change, like vallen, vertrekken, stijgen, overlijden) give an active, completed meaning: the noun did the action itself.

• de gevallen bladeren — the fallen leaves (the leaves fell)
• de vertrokken trein — the train that has left
• de gestegen prijzen — the prices that have risen
• de overleden man — the man who has died

This matches English: "the fallen leaves" are leaves that fell, not leaves that someone dropped.

Adding extra information

Dutch can put a whole phrase in front of the participle, which English usually can't. This is very common in written and formal Dutch.

• het door mijn moeder gebakken brood — the bread baked by my mother
• de in 1920 gebouwde school — the school built in 1920
• een pas geverfde muur — a freshly painted wall

In speech, a relative clause often sounds more natural: het brood dat mijn moeder heeft gebakken.

Participles that are really adjectives

Many participles have become ordinary adjectives, especially words for feelings and states. You use them with zijn, and they can take heel, erg or zeer like any adjective.

• Ik ben erg verbaasd. — I'm very surprised.
• Ze is heel opgewonden. — She's very excited.
• We zijn geïnteresseerd in het huis. — We're interested in the house.
• Hij is teleurgesteld. — He's disappointed.
• Ik verveel me. Ik ben verveeld. — I'm bored.
• Zijn jullie getrouwd? — Are you married?

English learners often mix these up with the matching "-ing" adjective. Dutch has the same split: the participle for the person who feels something, and a different word for the thing that causes it. The cause is often a present participle in -end, but not always.

• De film was saai. Ik was verveeld. — The film was boring. I was bored.
• Het nieuws was teleurstellend. — The news was disappointing.

Wrong: Ik ben interessant in kunst. Say Ik ben geïnteresseerd in kunst or Ik heb interesse in kunst.

Tip: Many of these adjectives come with a fixed preposition: geïnteresseerd in, verbaasd over, teleurgesteld in. See adjectives with prepositions.

Zijn + participle: state, perfect or passive?

The combination is + participle can mean three things, and the form looks the same each time.

Often a state and a perfect passive are two sides of the same thing: Het huis is verkocht means it has been sold, so it is now sold. Context tells you which reading fits, and in practice you rarely need to choose.

Compare worden, which describes the action itself (the passive voice):

• De deur wordt gesloten. — The door is being closed.
• De deur is gesloten. — The door is closed / has been closed.
• Het ei wordt gekookt. — The egg is being boiled.
• Het ei is gekookt. — The egg is boiled / has been boiled.

After zijn, the participle never gets an -e. Wrong: De deur is geslotene.

Quick summary

• Past participles work as adjectives: een gekookt ei, het gestolen geld.
• Participles in -d or -t take normal adjective endings: de gekookte aardappel, een gekookt ei.
• Participles in -en never take -e: de gestolen fiets, een gebroken been.
• Most participles are passive (het verkochte huis); those of zijn verbs are active (de gevallen bladeren).
• Feelings: verbaasd, teleurgesteld, geïnteresseerd for the person; verbazend, teleurstellend, interessant for the cause.
• Is + participle can be a state, a perfect passive or a perfect tense; wordt + participle is the action in progress.

Practise it

Train the -e rule in Participles as adjectives, see how worden and zijn differ in The passive, and review the participle forms themselves in The perfect tense. Look up any participle on the verb pages.