The first thing to know about verbs is what they are. A verb indicates an action in a sentence. In other words, a verb is what the subject of the sentence ‘does’. The train leaves the station. A sentence is split into clauses, and each clause functions as its own mini sentence with its own meaning. Clauses are often split with conjunctions (e.g. and, but, et cetera) or with commas.

 

Examples of clauses:

| The cat goes to the shops, | because it wants to buy fish. |

| The train arrived | and I had a ticket | so I got on. |

| I need to buy soup. |

 

You will find two forms of verbs in basic English and Dutch sentences, the infinitive and the indicative. Each clause must have one indicative and may have any number of infinitives. The indicative verb is called the main verb.

 

Examples of infinitives and indicatives.

| The cat goes to the shops, because it wants to buy fish.

| The train arrived and I had a ticket so I got on.

| I need to buy soup.

 

As you can see, while a sentence can have many indicatives, each clause can only have one.

 

It is important to know the difference between infinitives and indicatives because they effect both the word’s position in a sentence and its conjugation (how it’s spelled).

 

The conjugation of the infinitive is simple, in the present it is conjugated with ‘to <stem>’. For example ‘to buy’ or to ‘shop’. The stem of a verb is just the verb without any special ending attached. ‘Walks’ is not a stem because you can detach ‘-s’ from it and get ‘walk’ (the stem). In the past tense the infinitive is conjugated with ‘-ed’, for example ‘walked’.

 

>stem = word without ending attached<

>infinitive = present (to <stem>), past (<stem>-ed)<

 

The conjugation of the indicative is somewhat more advanced. There are two main concepts to keep in mind, the number and the person. The number refers to if the subject is singular or plural (so if there is one of the subject, or multiple). The person refers to if the subject is ‘I’, ‘you’, or ‘it’. The ‘it’ here can be replaced by almost anything, from objects (e.g. chair, trees, e.t.c.) to ‘he’ to ‘she’ to ‘they’.

 

A table of these concepts would look like this:

 

I - 1st person

You - 2nd person

He/She/They/It - 3rd person

 

We - 1st person

You (plural) - 2nd person

They (plural) - 3rd person

 

Here are some examples of the table in use:

 

The man walks - 3rd person singular

I eat - 1st person singular

You kids study - 2nd person plural

The cars drive - 3rd person plural

You read - 2nd person singular

We see - 1st person plural

 

As you can see, each of the verbs has its own number and person based on the subject. You can also see that some of the verbs have added endings. In English that would only be the 3rd person singular (he, she, it). For example ‘the chair stands’. English’s noun conjugation chart for the present would therefore look like this:

 

1st person <stem>

2nd person <stem>

3rd person <stem>+s

 

1st person <stem>

2nd person <stem>

3rd person <stem>

 

1st person <stem>+ed

2nd person <stem>+ed

3rd person <stem>+ed

 

1st person <stem>+ed

2nd person <stem>+ed

3rd person <stem>+ed

 

Infinitive to <stem>

Infinitive to <stem>

 

As you can see English conjugation is very simple (for regular verbs in the indicative or infinitive). Dutch conjugation, on the other hand, has many more forms. It is not any more complicated, however it is more to remember.

 

1st person <stam>

2nd person <stam>+t

3rd person <stam>+t

 

1st person <stam>+en

2nd person <stam>+en

3rd person <stam>+en

 

1st person <stam>+de/te

2nd person <stam>+de/te

3rd person <stam>+de/te

 

1st person <stam>+den/ten

2nd person <stam>+den/ten

3rd person <stam>+den/ten

 

Infinitive <stam>+en
 
 Past infinitive:
Infinitive <stam>+en

 

The conjugation of Dutch past tense verbs can go with a ‘t’ or a ‘d’. If a word ends in a t, p, f, s, h, c, k, or x the word goes with a ‘t’. Otherwise it goes with a ‘d’. You can memorise this easily by the mnemonics ‘top of shock – x’ or ‘t’x-kofschip’, both without the vowels.

 

Make sure you to remember that the Dutch infinitive does not include the word ‘to’ like in English, but instead is conjugated with -en. Where in English you would say ‘I want to play the game’, in Dutch you would say ‘Ik wil het spelen’.

is present (ott)?
     is indicative (main verb of clause)?
         is 1st or 2nd person singular?
             stam+t
         is plural?
             stam+en
         else
             stam
      is infinitive?
         stam+en
 
 is past (ovt)?
     is indicative (main verb of clause)?
         is in top of shock-x?
            is singluar?
                stam+te
            is plural?
               stam+ten
         is NOT in top of shock-x?
            is singluar?
                stam+de
            is plural?
               stam+den
      is infinitive?
         stam+en