The Dutch perfect tense (voltooide tijd) explained

If you want to talk about what you did last weekend, the perfect tense is the tense you need. Dutch speakers use it all the time for the past, much more than English uses "I have done". Where English says "I worked yesterday", Dutch usually says Ik heb gisteren gewerkt, literally "I have yesterday worked".

How it's built

The perfect tense (de voltooide tijd, or more precisely the voltooid tegenwoordige tijd) has two parts:

1. a form of hebben or zijn in second position, and
2. a past participle at the end of the clause.

• Ik heb een boek gelezen. — I read a book. / I have read a book.
• We zijn naar het strand gegaan. — We went to the beach.
• Heb je goed geslapen? — Did you sleep well?

Everything else goes between the two parts. In a subordinate clause both verbs go to the end: …omdat ik gisteren hard heb gewerkt. See Dutch word order for more on this.

Hebben or zijn?

Most verbs take hebben. A smaller group takes zijn, and these are worth learning as a group.

Zijn is used with verbs that express a change of place or state:

• Ik ben gisteren naar Utrecht gegaan. — I went to Utrecht yesterday.
• De trein is net vertrokken. — The train has just left.
• Mijn zus is ziek geworden. — My sister has fallen ill.
• Het concert is om acht uur begonnen. — The concert started at eight.
• Wat is er gebeurd? — What happened?

Two very common verbs also take zijn, even though nothing changes: zijn itself and blijven.

• Ik ben in Spanje geweest. — I've been to Spain.
• We zijn thuis gebleven. — We stayed at home.

Movement verbs like fietsen, lopen, rijden and zwemmen can take either. Use zijn when there is a destination or direction, and hebben when you're just talking about the activity:

• Ik ben naar huis gefietst. — I cycled home.
• Ik heb vandaag veel gefietst. — I cycled a lot today.

Vergeten (to forget) also takes both: Ik ben zijn naam vergeten (his name slipped my mind) vs Ik heb mijn sleutels vergeten (I left my keys behind).

Tip: If in doubt, guess hebben. It's right far more often. But do memorise the zijn group: gaan, komen, zijn, blijven, worden, beginnen, vertrekken, vallen, sterven, gebeuren.

Regular past participles

For regular verbs, the participle is ge- + stem + -t or -d. The stem is the ik form: werken → werk, spelen → speel, wonen → woon.

To choose between -t and -d, use the famous mnemonic 't kofschip. If the stem ends in one of the consonants in 't kofschip (t, k, f, s, ch, p), add -t. Otherwise add -d. Some teachers say 't ex-kofschip to include x as well (faxen → gefaxt).

Two traps:

1. Look at the infinitive, not the stem, for v and z. Verbs like leven and reizen have stems ending in f and s (leef, reis), but the infinitive has v and z, which are not in 't kofschip. So they get -d:

• leven → geleefd — lived
• reizen → gereisd — travelled
• verhuizen → verhuisd — moved house

2. Never double the final letter. If the stem already ends in t or d, you don't add another one:

• praten → gepraat — talked
• wachten → gewacht — waited
• antwoorden → geantwoord — answered
• zetten → gezet — put

The same 't kofschip rule decides between -te and -de in the simple past (werkte, speelde), which you'll meet in the Imperfect lesson.

Prefix verbs and separable verbs

Verbs with be-, ge-, her-, ver-, ont- and er-

Verbs that start with one of these unstressed prefixes don't get an extra ge-. Otherwise the rules stay the same.

• betalen → betaald — paid
• gebruiken → gebruikt — used
• herhalen → herhaald — repeated
• vertellen → verteld — told
• ontmoeten → ontmoet — met
• erkennen → erkend — recognised

This works for irregular verbs too: beginnen → begonnen, begrijpen → begrepen, vergeten → vergeten, verliezen → verloren.

• Ik heb de rekening al betaald. — I've already paid the bill.
• Ik heb het niet begrepen. — I didn't understand it.

Separable verbs: ge- goes in the middle

With separable verbs like opstaan or opbellen, the ge- goes between the prefix and the verb, and it's all written as one word:

• opstaan → opgestaan — got up

• opbellen → opgebeld — phoned

• meenemen → meegenomen — taken along

• aankomen → aangekomen — arrived

• uitnodigen → uitgenodigd — invited

• Ik ben om zeven uur opgestaan. — I got up at seven.

• Heb je je moeder al opgebeld? — Have you called your mother yet?

More in our post on separable verbs.

25 common irregular participles

Many of the most frequent Dutch verbs are irregular. There's no rule to predict their participles, but many end in -en and some change their vowel. Learn these with their auxiliary.

Quick summary

• Perfect tense = hebben or zijn (second position) + past participle (end).
• Most verbs take hebben; change of place or state, plus zijn and blijven, take zijn.
• Regular participle: ge- + stem + -t (after 't kofschip consonants) or -d (all others).
• Check v and z in the infinitive: geleefd, gereisd. Don't double t or d: gewacht.
• No extra ge- after be-, ge-, her-, ver-, ont-, er-.
• Separable verbs put ge- in the middle: opgebeld.

Practise it

Talk about your weekend in Perfect tense, compare it with the simple past in Imperfect, and describe what you did yesterday with the verbs from Daily routine.