The Dutch simple past: werkte, woonde, ging and was

Ik woonde in Londen. Het regende elke dag. Ik was vaak moe. This is the Dutch simple past, officially the onvoltooid verleden tijd (o.v.t.), and it's the tense of stories, memories and descriptions. Regular verbs follow one neat rule, irregular verbs need memorising, and the main question is when to use it instead of the perfect tense.

Regular verbs: -te or -de?

Regular (weak) verbs form the simple past by adding an ending to the stem:

• -te / -ten if the stem ends in t, k, f, s, ch or p
• -de / -den after every other sound

The consonants t, k, f, s, ch, p are all in the word 't kofschip (an old word for a merchant ship). That's the trick every Dutch schoolchild learns.

The stem is the infinitive minus -en, with normal spelling adjustments: werken → werk, maken → maak, stoppen → stop.

There are only two forms: the singular for ik, jij, u, hij/zij/het, and the plural for wij, jullie, zij.

• Ik werkte in een restaurant. — I worked in a restaurant.
• Jullie woonden in Leiden, toch? — You lived in Leiden, right?
• We fietsten naar het strand. — We cycled to the beach.

Spelling traps

v and z: look at the infinitive

Many stems end in f or s on paper, but the infinitive has a v or z. Neither v nor z is in 't kofschip, so these verbs take -de:

• leven → leefde — lived
• geloven → geloofde — believed
• reizen → reisde — travelled
• verhuizen → verhuisde — moved house

So: Ik reisde door Azië, not reiste. The rule is about the sound in the infinitive, not the letter in the stem.

Stems ending in t or d

If the stem already ends in -t or -d, you still add the full ending. You'll get a double letter that you don't really hear:

• praten → praatte — talked
• wachten → wachtte — waited
• antwoorden → antwoordde — answered
• landen → landde — landed

Loanwords

English loan verbs follow the same rule. An x sounds like ks, so it counts: faxen → faxte, mixen → mixte. And e-mailen → e-mailde, googelen → googelde.

Strong verbs: 25 to know

Strong and irregular verbs usually change their vowel instead of taking the regular ending, and they often have to be learned one by one. Here are 25 of the most common, with the past participle for the perfect tense.

A few patterns help:

• ij → ee: blijven → bleef, schrijven → schreef, krijgen → kreeg, also rijden → reed.
• i → o: drinken → dronk, vinden → vond, also beginnen → begon.
• The plural may change spelling: gaf → gaven (f → v), las → lazen (s → z), at → aten, sprak → spraken. In aten and spraken the vowel becomes long, as in plurals.

Some verbs are mixed: a regular past but an irregular participle, or the other way round. Lachen → lachte but gelachen; vragen → vroeg but gevraagd. Modal verbs have their own past forms (kon, moest, mocht, wilde, zou); see modal verbs.

Tip: Learn strong verbs in threes, out loud: drinken, dronk, gedronken. The rhythm sticks better than a list.

Simple past or perfect?

English uses the simple past for nearly everything ("I ate", "I went"). Dutch prefers the perfect in conversation, and keeps the simple past for specific jobs.

Use the perfect for single, finished events in conversation

When you tell someone what you did, especially recently, the perfect is normal:

• Ik heb gisteren pizza gegeten. — I ate pizza yesterday.
• Heb je de film al gezien? — Have you seen the film yet?
• We zijn in het weekend naar Gent gegaan. — We went to Ghent at the weekend.

Use the simple past for stories, descriptions and habits

Once the event is set up, Dutch speakers often switch to the simple past to tell the story and describe the background:

• We zijn in het weekend naar Gent gegaan. Het was heel druk en het regende de hele dag, maar het eten was lekker. — We went to Ghent at the weekend. It was very busy and it rained all day, but the food was good.

It's also the normal choice for past habits and situations that lasted a while:

• Vroeger woonde ik in een klein dorp. — I used to live in a small village.
• Als kind speelde ik elke dag buiten. — As a child I played outside every day.
• Toen ik student was, werkte ik in een café. — When I was a student, I worked in a café.

Clauses with toen ("when", for one moment or period in the past) very often take the simple past. See conjunctions for more on toen and als.

Was, had and the modals: almost always simple past

With zijn, hebben and the modal verbs, the simple past is the everyday choice even in casual talk:

• Ik was gisteren erg moe. — I was very tired yesterday.
• We hadden geen tijd. — We didn't have time.
• Ik kon niet slapen. — I couldn't sleep.

Ik ben moe geweest is correct, but it sounds more like "I have been tired (at some point)".

Books, news reports and fairy tales use the simple past throughout: Er was eens een koning die drie dochters had. — Once upon a time there was a king who had three daughters. When you need "had done", you combine had/was with a participle; that's the pluperfect.

Quick summary

• Regular verbs: stem + -te/-ten after the sounds of 't kofschip (t, k, f, s, ch, p), otherwise -de/-den.
• Check the infinitive: leven → leefde, reizen → reisde.
• Stems in -t or -d still get the full ending: praatte, antwoordde.
• Strong verbs change their vowel: ging, kwam, zag, at, schreef. Learn them in threes.
• Perfect for single events in conversation; simple past for stories, descriptions, habits and toen-clauses.
• Was, had and kon, moest, wilde are the everyday past forms.

Practise it

Tell stories about the past in The imperfect, compare it with The perfect tense, and take the next step with The pluperfect.