The pattern
The stem is the infinitive minus -en. Sometimes the end of the stem needs a spelling repair.
- No repair: werken, werk; fietsen, fiets.
- A stressed (strongly pronounced) a, e, o or u followed by one consonant letter and -en is long, so the stem writes it twice: lopen, loop; maken, maak; parkeren, parkeer.
- A double consonant becomes single: zitten, zit; bellen, bel; hebben, heb.
- A v or z at the end becomes f or s: leven, leef; reizen, reis; lezen, lees.
- Other letters stay as they are. A d stays d, even though it sounds like t: worden, ik word.
Examples
| Ik werk in Rotterdam. | I work in Rotterdam. |
| Ik loop naar het station. | I walk to the station. |
| Ik maak een boterham. | I'm making a sandwich. |
| Ik zit in de trein. | I'm sitting on the train. |
| Ik bel de huisarts. | I'm calling the GP. |
| Ik geef Daan een cadeau. | I'm giving Daan a present. |
| Ik reis elke dag naar Utrecht. | I travel to Utrecht every day. |
| Ik lees de krant. | I read the newspaper. |
Why it works this way
The stem keeps the sound of the infinitive. The spelling changes to show that sound.
- In lo-pen, the o ends an open syllable (one ending in a vowel), so one letter sounds long. In loop, the p closes the syllable, and a single o would sound short, as in op. See open and closed syllables.
- In zit-ten, the double t keeps the i short before -en. At the end of a word, one t does that job alone.
- Dutch speakers pronounce a final v or z as f or s, and for these two letters the spelling follows the sound. More in v and f, z and s.
The vowel repair needs stress. In o-pe-nen and te-ke-nen, the e in front of -nen is weak and unstressed, so it stays single: open, teken.
This is a strong pattern, not a law. A few very common verbs go their own way, such as komen (ik kom), gaan (ik ga) and zijn (ik ben); see the irregular present. Some English loan verbs keep their English look: updaten, ik update.
Remember: chop and tidy. Chop off -en, then tidy the end: a long vowel gets two letters, a double letter loses one, and v and z become f and s.
Watch out
FalschIk werken in Utrecht.
RichtigIk werk in Utrecht.
after ik comes the stem; in English "work" does both jobs, in Dutch it does not
FalschIk lop naar de bus.
RichtigIk loop naar de bus.
the long o needs two letters in a closed syllable
FalschIk zitt in de trein.
RichtigIk zit in de trein.
one t is enough at the end of a word
FalschIk reiz met de bus naar Leiden.
RichtigIk reis met de bus naar Leiden.
z becomes s at the end
Quick check
- Fill in the stem of wonen: Ik ... in Amersfoort.
- Fill in the stem of bellen: Ik ... morgen de gemeente.
- Choose verhuiz or verhuis: Ik ... in juni naar Groningen.
- Fix the sentence: Ik schrijv een kaart voor Bas.
Antworten zeigen
- woon (the long o in wo-nen needs two letters in the stem)
- bel (the double l becomes single)
- verhuis (z becomes s at the end)
- Ik schrijf een kaart voor Bas. (v becomes f at the end)
Use it today
Write five sentences about your weekday, each starting with ik, such as ik fiets naar mijn werk or ik eet een boterham. Check every stem against its infinitive. Then continue with the present tense, where you build the other forms on this stem.