Telling a story in Dutch: tenses, toen and time words
Learn to tell a story in Dutch, with the perfect and simple past, time words like toen and daarna, reported speech, and a short example story.
"You'll never guess what happened to me yesterday…" Telling a story is one of the most natural things you do in any language, and it's a great test of your Dutch. You need the right past tenses, words that put events in order, correct word order after those words, and a way to report what people said. This post brings it all together, with an example story at the end.
Perfect or simple past?
Dutch has two main past tenses: the perfect (ik heb gewerkt, ik ben gegaan) and the simple past (ik werkte, ik ging). In stories, they often work together.
A typical pattern in spoken Dutch:
- Open with the perfect to announce that something happened: Ik heb gisteren iets geks meegemaakt. — Something strange happened to me yesterday.
- Switch to the simple past to tell the story itself, step by step, and to describe the background: Ik liep door het park en het was heel stil. — I was walking through the park and it was very quiet.
The simple past is especially natural for background and ongoing situations, where English uses "was …-ing": Het regende. — It was raining. We zaten in de trein. — We were sitting on the train.
This isn't a strict rule. In casual speech, many people tell a whole story in the perfect, and that's fine. Written stories, books and news reports use the simple past much more. If you're unsure, the opening-perfect-then-simple-past pattern always sounds natural.
For the forms, see the perfect tense and the simple past.
Time words that move the story along
These words put events in order. The key is knowing which ones are adverbs and which are conjunctions, because they cause different word order.
| Word | English | Type | Word order |
|---|---|---|---|
| eerst | first | adverb | verb second: Eerst ging ik… |
| toen | then | adverb | verb second: Toen ging ik… |
| daarna | after that | adverb | verb second: Daarna ging ik… |
| plotseling / opeens | suddenly | adverb | verb second: Opeens ging… |
| ondertussen | meanwhile | adverb | verb second: Ondertussen ging… |
| uiteindelijk | in the end | adverb | verb second: Uiteindelijk ging… |
| toen | when (one time, past) | conjunction | verb to the end: toen ik thuiskwam |
| nadat | after | conjunction | verb to the end: nadat ik had gegeten |
| voordat | before | conjunction | verb to the end: voordat ik vertrok |
| terwijl | while | conjunction | verb to the end: terwijl ik kookte |
| zodra | as soon as | conjunction | verb to the end: zodra hij belde |
Adverbs at the start: the verb comes next.
- Eerst dronken we koffie. — First we had coffee.
- Daarna gingen we naar het museum. — After that we went to the museum.
- Plotseling ging het licht uit. — Suddenly the lights went out.
Wrong: Daarna we gingen naar het museum. The verb must stay in second place.
Conjunctions: the verb goes to the end of their clause. If the subordinate clause comes first, the main clause starts with its verb:
- Toen ik thuiskwam, was de deur open. — When I got home, the door was open.
- Nadat we hadden gegeten, gingen we wandelen. — After we had eaten, we went for a walk.
- Ik deed de lichten uit voordat ik vertrok. — I turned off the lights before I left.
Note the comma, and the verb–verb pattern in the middle: …thuiskwam, was…. Wrong: Toen ik thuiskwam, de deur was open.
Nadat is usually followed by the past perfect (had gegeten, was vertrokken), because the action happened before the main event. More on this in the pluperfect lesson, and on word order in linking words.
Toen, dan or als?
All three can mean "then" or "when", and mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes in stories.
| Word | Meaning | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| toen | then / when | one event or period in the past |
| dan | then | the present, future, habits, or instructions |
| als | when / if | the present or future, and repeated past events ("whenever") |
In a past story, "then" is toen:
- We aten pizza en toen gingen we naar de film. — We ate pizza and then we went to the cinema.
- Wrong: We aten pizza en dan gingen we naar de film.
Dan is for the present, the future and routines: Eerst eten we, dan gaan we naar de film. — First we'll eat, then we'll go to the cinema.
"When" for a single past moment or period is toen:
- Toen ik klein was, woonde ik in Groningen. — When I was little, I lived in Groningen.
- Wrong: Als ik klein was, woonde ik in Groningen.
"Whenever" in the past is als:
- Als het regende, bleven we binnen. — Whenever it rained, we stayed inside.
Reporting what people said
Stories are full of speech. Dutch has two ways to report it.
Direct speech quotes the exact words. Use a colon before the quote, or put the speech verb after the quote with inversion:
- Hij zei: "Ik kom morgen." — He said: "I'm coming tomorrow."
- "Ik kom morgen," zei hij. — "I'm coming tomorrow," he said.
- "Waar woon je?" vroeg ze. — "Where do you live?" she asked.
After the quote, the verb comes before the subject: zei hij, vroeg ze.
Indirect speech uses dat, of or a question word, and the verb goes to the end. Pronouns, tenses and time words shift as in English:
- Hij zei dat hij de volgende dag zou komen. — He said he would come the next day.
- Ze vroeg waar ik woonde. — She asked where I lived.
- Ze vroeg of ik mee wilde. — She asked if I wanted to come along.
Wrong: Hij zei dat hij zou komen de volgende dag. All the verbs belong at the end of the clause. And for a yes/no question, use of, not als: Wrong: Ze vroeg als ik mee wilde.
An example story
Here's a short story that uses everything above. Notice the opening perfect, the simple past for the story itself, and the time words.
Vorige week heb ik iets bijzonders meegemaakt. — Last week something special happened to me.
Ik fietste 's avonds naar huis en het regende heel hard. — I was cycling home in the evening and it was raining very hard.
Eerst merkte ik niets, maar toen hoorde ik een raar geluid. — At first I didn't notice anything, but then I heard a strange noise.
Mijn achterband was lek. — My back tyre was flat.
Ik stapte af en keek om me heen. — I got off and looked around.
Plotseling stopte er een oudere man naast me. — Suddenly an older man stopped next to me.
"Kan ik je helpen?" vroeg hij. — "Can I help you?" he asked.
Ik zei dat ik geen reparatieset bij me had. — I said that I didn't have a repair kit with me.
Hij lachte en zei: "Geen probleem, ik woon hier om de hoek." — He laughed and said: "No problem, I live just around the corner."
Terwijl hij mijn band plakte, vertelde hij over zijn kleinkinderen. — While he was patching my tyre, he told me about his grandchildren.
Ondertussen werd het droog. — Meanwhile, the rain stopped.
Toen hij klaar was, wilde ik hem iets geven, maar hij weigerde. — When he had finished, I wanted to give him something, but he refused.
Uiteindelijk kwam ik pas om tien uur thuis, maar ik was in een heel goed humeur. — In the end I didn't get home until ten, but I was in a really good mood.
Tip: pas + time means "not until": Ik kwam pas om tien uur thuis. — I didn't get home until ten. See al, nog and pas.
Quick summary
- Open with the perfect (Ik heb iets geks meegemaakt), then tell the story in the simple past.
- Use the simple past for background: Het regende. We zaten in de trein.
- Adverbs like eerst, toen, daarna, plotseling, ondertussen, uiteindelijk at the start → verb second.
- Conjunctions like toen, nadat, voordat, terwijl, zodra → verb to the end; then the main clause starts with its verb.
- "Then" and "when" in past stories = toen; dan is for present and future; als for repeated past events.
- Direct speech: Hij zei: "…" or "…," zei hij. Indirect: Hij zei dat…, Ze vroeg of…
Practise it
Tell your own stories in Storytelling, review the simple past in The imperfect, and master nadat with the past perfect in The pluperfect.