Dutch

• Changed my iPhone to Dutch (Ik heb mijn iPhone in het Nederlands gezet)
• Changed my MacBook to Dutch (Ik heb mijn MacBook in het Nederlands gezet)
• I should watch movies/series with both Dutch and English subtitles. With Dutch dubbing as well. (Ik zou films/series moeten kijken met zowel Nederlandse als Engelse ondertiteling. En ook met Nederlandse gesproken).

I am willing to spend 1h/day to learning Dutch

• I need to see how I divide that hour into speaking/listening/writing/grammar.

A1 level

• be able to introduce myself, fill forms with personal details
• order food, ask prices, basic greetings
• use present tense mainly
• rely on the other person to speak slowly and simply
• know de/het, basic word order, and simple negation with niet/geen

A2 level

• be able to handle short routine exchanges about familiar topics
• start using past tense
• can describe things in simple connected sentences

B1 level

• deal with most situations while traveling or living somewhere Dutch is spoken
• give reasons for opinions and plans, produce explanations
• understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar matters
• handle modal verbs with nuance, main clause + subclause combinations, separate verbs correctly in different tenses.

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Road to A1

Syllables

I am currently using dutchgrammar.com for learning the absolute basics. For starters, I am going to start with dividing a word into syllables. To hear what a word sounds like, use forvo.com.

Syllabification

A word is divided into syllables by its vowels. If two vowels are pronounced as one (ij), we consider it one vowel. When put together with one or more consonants, every combination becomes a syllable.

There are four rules which apply to most Dutch words:

1. If two vowels are separated by one consonant, the consonant forms the beginning of the second syllable.

Word	Syllables	Meaning
moeten	moe-ten	must, have to
maken	ma-ken	to make
zeuren	zeu-ren	to whine, to moan

• (‘mu-tǎn, ma-kǎn, zeo-rǎn’)

2. If the vowels are separated by more than one consonant, the first syllable gets one consonant, and the second gets the rest of the consonants:

Word	Syllables	Meaning
paarden	paar-den	horses
dingen	din-gen	things
wennen	wen-nen	to get used to
venster	ven-ster	window
enclave	en-cla-ve	enclave
obstinaat	ob-sti-naat	stubborn

• (‘paar-dǎn, din-gǎn, ve-nǎn, ven-stǎr, an-cla-vǎ, ob-sti-nat’)

3. A compound word consists of two or more separate words. We split the compound word at the boundary between the original words, leaving each original word intact. We do the same for words derived from nouns or verbs: vergeetachtig = vergeet + achtig (forgetful = forget + -ish).

Word	Syllables	Meaning	Incorrect
waarom	waar-om	why (de ce)	not: waa-rom
meeteenheid	meet-een-heid	unit of measurement	not: mee-teen-heid
broodoven	brood-o-ven	bread oven	not: broo-do-ven
koopakte	koop-ak-te	sales contract	not: koo-pak-te
huurauto	huur-au-to	rental car	not: huu-rau-to

• (‘vaa-rom, meit-ein-haid, brod-o-vǎn, cop-ak-tǎ, hiur-au-to’)

I see that it holds for pronunciation as well. I pronounce each individual word and the final one simply makes sense.

4. “Ease of pronunciation”: This is what we generally do, but if the second syllable begins with a consonant cluster that’s hard to pronounce, we put one (or more, if needed) of those consonants at the end of the preceding syllable.

• In Dutch, a syllable never begins with two identical consonants (see last row).

Word	Syllables	Meaning	Incorrect
koortsig	koort-sig	feverish	not: koortsig
ambtenaar	amb-te-naar	civil servant	not: am-bte-naar
Delftse	Delft-se	from Delft	not: Del-ftse/Delf-tse
erwten	erw-ten	peas	not: er-wten
startten	start-ten	(we) started	not: star-tten

• (‘kurt-zsǎh, amb-te-naar, delft-zsǎh, er-tǎn, start-tǎn’)

The combination ‘ch’

There is one consonant-combination that does not abide by the four syllable rules described before: ch. This combination is never separated. It is another way of writing the letter g.* For this reason, we regard is as a single consonant. The words below are therefore not separated by three consonants (c, h and t) but by two (ch and t or r and ch).

• self note (e acel hhh cand tragi o flegma)

Word	Syllables	Meaning
lachen	la-chen	to laugh
richel	ri-chel	ridge
zuchten	zuch-ten	to sigh
krachten	krach-ten	forces, energy
rechter	rech-ter	judge
monarchie	mo-nar-chie	monarchy

• (‘la-hh-ǎn, ri-hh-ǎl, zu-hh-tǎn, kra-hh-tǎn, re-hh-tǎr, mo-nar-hh-i’)

And of course, observing the 4th rule: if ch is enveloped by consonants (e.g. ‘rcht’), we place ch at the end of the preceding syllable (like with koortsig, ambtenaar, etc.). If we do not do this, the second syllable starts with ch + another consonant (which will generally make it hard to pronounce).

Word	Syllables	Meaning	Incorrect
burchten	burch-ten	castles	not: bur-chten

• (‘biur-hh-tǎn’)

Prefixes and Suffixes

There are two suffixes and one type of prefix that always form a separate syllable, regardless of the consonants that precede or follow after them.

**The prefixes: be-, er-, ge-, her-, ont-, ver-

Word	Syllables	Meaning	Incorrect
besturen	be-stu-ren	to steer, to reign	not: bes-tu-ren
gebruiken	ge-brui-ken	to use	not: geb-rui-ken
herindelen	her-in-de-len	to reorganise	not: he-rin-de-len
ontaarden	ont-aar-den	to degenerate	not: on-taar-den
veranderen	ver-an-de-ren	to change	not: ve-ran-de-ren

• (‘be-stiu-rǎn, hǎ-brau-kǎn, ont-aar-dǎn, her-in-dei-lǎn, ver-an-de-rǎn’)

The suffix: -ische for adjectives

Many Dutch adjectives end in -isch or -ische (inflected). It means something like English -ish.

If we look at -ische, ‘i’ and ‘sche’ are separate syllables (which is contrary to the rules for dividing a word into syllables).

The consonant combination “sch” should normally be pronounced as English ‘skh’. But in this particular case, we only pronounce ‘s’. We therefore consider ‘sch’ as one consonant and thus place it at the beginning of the next syllable.

Word	Syllables	Meaning	Incorrect
Belgische	Bel-gi-sche	Belgian	not: Bel-gis-che
egoïstische	e-go-is-ti-sche	selfish	not: e-go-is-tis-che

• (‘bel-hi-sǎ’, ‘e-ho-is-ti-sǎ’)

The suffix: -thie for nouns and -thisch(e) for adjectives

These (Greek) endings are the equivalents of the English -thy (sympathy) and -thic. In Dutch, the h is not pronounced, -thie simply sounds like the English tea.

We consider the consonant combination th as one. Recall that when two vowels are divided by only one consonant, the consonant is added to the next syllable.

Word	Syllables	Meaning	Incorrect
sympathie	sym-pa-thie	sympathy	not: sym-pat-hie
empathische	em-pa-thi-sche	empathic	not: em-pat-his-che

• (‘sim-pa-ti’, ‘em-pa-ti-sǎ’)

The suffix: ‘-achtig’(e) for adjectives

‘-achtig’ is the Dutch translation for English ‘-like’.

Word	Syllables	Meaning	Incorrect
waarachtig	waar-ach-tig	truly	not: waa-rach-tig
reusachtig	reus-ach-tig	giant (-like)	not: reu-sach-tig

• (‘var-ah-tǎh, reoz-ah-tǎh’)

Dieresis

A dieresis is a diacritical mark (¨) placed over a vowel to show that two touching vowels are separate syllables rather than a single sound

If a vowel contains a dieresis, it forms the beginning of a new syllable. It is used to indicate where we have to divide a double vowel or vowel combination into separate syllables. Without the dieresis, a double vowel or vowel combination would make only one syllable.

Word	Meaning
egoïstisch (e-go-is-tisch)	selfish

• (‘e-ho-is-tis’)

The oi in egoistisch would be pronounced as the English oy. If we give the i a dieresis, as in egoïstisch, the oi is pronounced as the English ohwee.

Word	Meaning
reëel (re-eel)	real, realistic

• (‘re-iel’)

Without the dieresis, we would not know where to divide the sequence of e’s into syllables. It could be re-eel, but also ree-el.

Word	Meaning
sympathieën (sym-pa-thie-en)	sympathies, preferences

• (‘sim-pa-ti-ǎn’)

The same goes for sympathieën. Without the dieresis, we would not know how to choose between sym-pa-thie-en and sym-pa-thi-een.

As you can read in the section about long vowels, the combination ui is pronounced as one long vowel. In the word altruïstisch, we want to pronounce the u and the i as two separate vowels. To establish this, we need to put a dieresis over the i.

	Word	Syllables
without a dieresis (wrong!)	altruistisch	in separate syllables: al-truis-tisch
with a dieresis	altruïstisch	in separate syllables: al-tru-is-tisch

• (‘al-tru-is-tis’)

When we break up a word at the end of a line in such a way that the syllable at the beginning of the second line starts with the dieresis, we do not write the dieresis (it is already clear by the way the word had been divided).

ego-	re-	sympathie-	altru-
istisch	eel	en	istisch

Long Vowels

Long vowels can be formed in three ways:

1. double vowel: two identical vowels in a row
2. single open vowel: a single vowel at the end of a syllable
3. vowel combination: two different vowels in a row that merge into (more or less) one vowel

With the exception of y, each vowel has a short and a long form:

	a	e	i	o	u
short	a [ɑ] (‘a’)	e [ɛ] (‘e’)	i [ɪ] (‘e’)	o [ɔ] (‘o’)	u [ʏ] (‘eo’)
long	aa [aː] (‘aa’)	ee [eː] (‘ei’)	ie [i] (‘i’)	oo [oː] (‘ou’)	uu [y] (‘uu’)

Note that long i is not formed by doubling the vowel, but by adding the letter e: ie.

Double vowels

Double vowels are long vowels. Even though they consist of two vowels, they are pronounced as one.

aa — Pronounce like English ‘a’ but open your mouth (a lot!) wider: [a]

• staan (to stand), waar (true, where), kaart (card, map)
• (‘st-aa-n, v-aa-r, k-aa-rt’)

ee — Pronounce like English ‘ai’ in claim: [e]

• zee (sea), kleed (carpet), been (leg), geel (yellow)
• (‘zei, kl-ei-t, b-ei-n, h-ei-ǎl’)

But: pronounce like English ‘ea’ in beard when followed by the letter r:

• meer (more), zeer (very), verkeerd (wrong), heersen (to reign)
• (‘mi-ǎr, zi-ǎr, vǎr-ki-ǎr-t, hi-ǎr-sǎn’)

oo — Pronounce like English ‘oa’ in boat: [oo]

• rood (red), hoofd (head), groot (big), troosten (to comfort)
• (‘rǎ-ut, hǎu-ft, hro-ot, trou-stǎn’)

But: when it precedes the letter r, pronounce like the English oo in door: [ɔː]

• woord (word), vermoorden (to kill), noord (north), Noors (Norwegian)
• (‘voo-rt, ver-moor-dǎn, noo-rd, noo-rs’)

uu — Pronounce like French ‘u’ in ‘tu’ or German ‘ü’ in Düsseldorf: [y]

• vuur (fire), uur (hour), muur (wall), duur (expensive), debuut (debut)
• (‘fiu-ǎr, iu-ǎr, miu-ǎr, diu-ǎr, de-biut’)

Open single vowels

If a syllable ends in a vowel, the vowel is always long.

Here I should master breaking up a word into its syllables. The rule that a single vowel letter at the end of an open syllable represents a long vowel applies strictly to a, e, o, and u

• single open i representing a long vowel applies almost exclusively to loanwords (Latin/Romance borrowings), whereas native Dutch uses ie.

a — [a]

• ma-ken (to make), wa-ter (water), na (after), dra (soon)
  • (‘ma-kǎn, va-tǎr, na, dra’)

e — [e]

• we-ten (to know), be-ter (better), we-zen (creature), be-zig (busy)
  • (‘ve-tǎn, be-tǎr, ve-zǎn, be-zǎh’)

i — [i]

• a-li-bi (alibi), po-li-tie (police), mi-nis-ter (minister), fi-na-le (final)
  • (‘a-li-bi, po-li-ți, mi-nis-tǎr, fi-na-lǎ’)

o — [o]

• ko-men (to come), dro-gen (to dry), bo-ten (boats)
  • (‘ko-mǎn, dro-hǎn, bo-tǎn’)
• But: when o precedes the letter r, it is pronounced as when oo precedes the letter r: [as in door] — sto-ren (to disturb), ho-ren (to hear), vo-ri-ge (previous)
  • (‘stoo-rǎn, hoo-rǎn, foo-rǎ-hǎ’)

u — [y]

• bu-ren (neighbours), Tu-ne-si-e, Tunesië (Tunisia), tri-bu-ne (tribune)
• (‘biu-rǎn, tu-nei-si-ǎ, tri-biu-nǎ’)

y — [i]

• In originally foreign words: baby, derby, lyceum
  • (‘be-bi, der-bi, li-se-iǎm’)

A syllable never ends in a double vowel!

No-open-double-vowel rule.

Apparently, only the letter ‘e’ is an exception to this rule.

Vowel combinations

Vowel combinations consist of two or three different vowels that are pronounced more or less as one vowel. We treat the combination as one syllable (together with one or more consonants).

In Dutch, there’s 16 vowel combinations. Some combinations perfectly merge into one new vowel, while the synthesis of other combinations is less perfect. The important thing to understand is that they are all fixed combinations.

Learn them by heart.

aai	eeu(w)	ie	oe	ui
ae	ei	ieu(w)	ou
ai	eu	ij	oi
au			ooi
			oei

Combinations that consist of two vowels

ae — This vowel combination occurs exclusively in old Dutch words. You will only find it in proper names, especially in Flanders. It is pronounced the same way as ‘aa’: [a]

• meneer Claessen (Mr. Claessen), mevrouw Haenen (Mrs. Haenen)
  • (‘mǎ-nir claa-sǎn, mǎ-frau haa-nǎn’)

ai — This is a rare vowel combination. Pronounce like English i in wine: [ai] or just like in Romanian.

• hai (hi), mais (corn; also spelled as maïs)

au — Pronounce like the English ou in house: [au] — again just like in Romanian

• gauw (soon), grauw (greyish), lauw (lukewarm)

ei — This sound is a bit similar to the German ei in reisen, but pronounced a bit ‘flatter’: [ɛi] or [æi] — just like in Romanian

• ei (egg), beleid (policy), bereiden (to prepare), geit (goat), trein (train)

eu — Pronounce like French ‘eu’ in ‘feu’ or German ö in Köln: [ø]. The French one is accurate.

• leuk (nice, funny), neus (nose), heup (hip), treuzelen (to be slow)
• But: if it precedes the letter r, pronounce like the English or in word: [œ] — geur (smell), kleur (colour), deur (door)
  • I find no difference. Maybe it’s more of a “ǎu” in the first case and a “eo” in the second.

ie — Pronounce like ee in the English keep: [i]

• lief (sweet, dear), bier (beer), hier (here), genieten van (to enjoy)
  • (‘lif, bi-ǎr, hi-ǎr, hǎ-ni-tǎn’)

ij* — Same as ei: [ɛi] or [æi]

• wijs (wise), blij (happy, glad), grijs (grey), tijd (time)
  • (‘veis, blei, hreis, teit’)

oe — Pronounce like English oo in choose: [u] in Romanian.

• voelen (to feel), goed (good), zoet (sweet), voet (foot)
  • (‘fu-lǎn, hut, zut, fut’)

oi — A combination that you will seldom come across. Pronounce just like in Romanian.

• hoi (hi)

ou — Same as au in Romanian.

• zout (salt), vrouw (woman), koud (cold), nou (now), stout (bad, naughty)
  • (‘zaut, frau, kaut, nau, staut’)

ui — This sound is something between ou and eu: [ɐy] — au in Romanian

• zuid (south), bruin (brown), fluiten (to whistle), buiten (outside)
  • (‘zaut, braun, flautǎn, bautǎn’)

Combinations that consists of three vowels

There are a few vowel combinations that take three vowels, but again, are pronounced more or less as one:

Ooi, aai, and oei

The letter i at the end is pronounced like in Romanian.

aai — [ai] in Romanian

• draai-en (to turn), aai-en (to stroke), maai-en (to mow)
  • (‘draai-ǎn, aai-ǎn, maai-ǎn’)

oei — [ui] in Romanian

• groei-en (to grow), roei-en (to row), ver-moeid (tired)
  • (‘hrui-ǎn, rui-ǎn, fǎr-muit’)

ooi — [oi] in Romanian

• gooi-en (to throw), mooi (beautiful), ver-strooid (forgetful)
  • (‘hhoi-ǎn, moi, fǎr-stroit’)

Ieu(w) and eeu(w)

These combinations are always followed by the consonant w.

Ieuw is pronounced as English ee followed by an English w, and eeuw as English ay followed by w.

eeu — [eːw]

• leeu-wen (lions), geeu-wen (to yawn)
  • (‘lei-uǎn, hhei-uǎn’)

ieu — [iːw]

• ver-nieu-wen (to renew), kieu-wen (gills of a fish)
  • (‘fǎr-ni-uǎn, ki-uǎn’)

Short Vowels

Short vowels are single vowels that are followed by one or more consonants within the same syllable.

Single vowels that are followed by ch but not within the same syllable (in the following one) are also considered short vowels. lachen $\to$ la-chen, where a is short, not long!

Figuring out whether a vowel is short or long: If the single vowel is somewhere in the middle of a word, you need to divide the word into syllables to see whether the vowel sits at the end of the syllable (long vowel) or whether it is followed by a consonant within the same syllable (short vowel).

Example

afmeting — af-me-ting (‘af-mei-tin’)

a is followed by f, therefore a short vowel

e is an open vowel, which makes it a long vowel.

i is followed by the consonants ng and thus a short vowel.

A mention on word stress

in Dutch verb infinitives (which almost all end in -en) and many plurals, that final -en is basically always pronounced as a schwa + “n” — sometimes the “n” is barely even pronounced at all in casual speech. So “merken” often sounds closer to “MER-k’n” than “MER-ken”.

I have to internalize it by ear and practice, it’s not a rule per-say.

Takeaway: unstressed syllables are often pronounced as ‘schwa’.

• -en, -e, -el, -er

All vowels are mostly pronounced as in Romanian. Only with ‘u’ I want to articulate it as in “iu”.

The letter e

Where other vowels that are placed at the end of a syllable are always long, the e requires a second look. There are two ways in which it distinguishes itself from the rest:

1. If the letter e is unstressed, it is pronounced neither long nor short: It is a mute e (i.e. schwa)
2. The letter e is the only vowel that is allowed to be doubled at the end of a word. (double ee)

The mute ‘e’ (schwa)

‘ǎ’

In this section, the stresses of all words that contain open e’s will be underlined.

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
verkennen	to explore	werkelijk	really
wetende	knowing	rekenen	to calculate
gevangen	imprisoned	bedelen	to beg
betreurenswaardig	deplorable	bedelen	to assign, to distribute

• (‘vǎr-ke-nǎn, vei-tǎn-dǎ, hǎ-fan-ǎn, bǎ-treo-rǎn-szvaar-dǎh, ver-kǎ-lǎk, rei-kǎn’n, bei-dǎlǎn, bǎ-dei-lǎn’)

bedelen being two completely separate words based on the stressed syllable is sending me :)

a single, open e at the end of a word is always mute.

Double e (ee)

the letter ‘e’ is the only vowel allowed in duplo at the end of a word (ee).

The reason for this is related to the mute e. Remember the rule of thumb above that a single e at the end of a word is always a mute e. So what if we want a word to end in a long e? The only way to establish this is by writing e in duplo, violating the rule that a syllable never ends in two identical vowels. Examples are: mee (along), thee (tea), wee (pain), zee (sea).

• (‘mei, tei, vei, zei’)

There are (two) situations where ee forms the end of a syllable within a word.

1. Compound word: a word is composed of a word that ends in ee plus another word.

Word	Composition	Meaning
mee-lo-pen	consisting of the words mee and lopen	to go/walk along
thee-kop	consisting of the words thee and kop	teacup

• (‘mei-lo-pǎn, tei-kop’)

2. The plural form of a noun that ends in ee

A plural is normally formed by adding -en to the singular.

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
wee-en - weeën	(labour) pain	zee-en - zeeën	seas

Note the dieresis.

• (‘vei-ǎn’, ‘zei-ǎn’)

Vowel length

Keeping vowels long

In general, long vowel words should stay long, regardless of any changes in the word (e.g. a singular noun turning into a plural, or when you conjugate a verb’s infinitive). The same goes for short vowel words.

Plural nouns and the rule that a syllable never ends in a double vowel

Usually with nouns, we add -en to form the plural.

Let us consider the word maan (moon).

To form the plural, we add -en: maanen

If we break it up into syllables, we get: maa-nen

Following the rule about double vowels at the end of a syllable, we are not allowed to have the syllable end in double aa.

The reason for this is that a syllable that ends in one a is already considered to be a long-vowel syllable (recall that a short vowel syllable always ends in a consonant). The second a is thus redundant: we will simply omit the second a.

maanen ⇒ ma-nen ⇒ manen

Keeping a long vowel word long

Suppose we do the exact opposite: we have a long vowel plural noun, and we have to turn it into a singular noun.

Let us take the plural noun stenen (stones).

The first syllable has a long vowel, for if we divide the word into its syllables, we find that the first syllable ends in a vowel (e):

stenen

To derive a singular noun from a plural, we need to subtract -en:

sten

Now, the syllable ends in a consonant (n), which would mean the vowel is a short one.

The plural noun was, however, a long vowel word, which generally means that the singular should be long too. In order to keep the singular noun long, we have to add an extra vowel:

steen

Recall that all double vowels are long vowels!

Keeping vowels short

From singular to plural

Let us look at the singular noun stuk (piece). The word has a single, closed vowel: a short vowel word. To turn it into a plural noun, we add -en:

stuken

To determine whether the newly formed plural noun has maintained its short vowel, we divide it into syllables:

stu-ken $\to$ the first syllable ends in a vowel

Recall that a vowel at the end of a syllable is always a long vowel.

Apparently, we turned the short singular vowel into a long plural vowel. Because short vowel words must stay short, regardless of any changes (e.g. from plural to singular), we have to make sure that the plural is short too.

In order to establish this, we simply add an extra consonant (k in this case) to the end of the first syllable:

stuk-ken

The syllable now has a single, closed vowel. In other words: it is a short vowel word.

From plural to singular

Now we will do it the other way around. We have a short-vowel plural noun:

katten (cats)

To turn it into a singular noun, we have to subtract -en:

katt

Recall that a word (or even syllable) never ends in two identical consonants. Therefore, we simply subtract one of the consonants (t) and we get:

katt → kat

Consonants

The Dutch have three consonant combinations in which the separate consonants are merged into a new sound: ch, sch, and ng. The rest of the consonants are pronounced roughly the same as in English.

b — if pronounced at the end of a word, it is pronounced as ‘p’.

• krab (crab), kwab (lobe), web (web)
  • (‘crap, kvap, vep’)

c — before ‘i’ or ‘e’, we pronounce it as ‘s’. We pronounce it as [k] in all other cases.

• centrum, cinema, ceremonie
  • (‘sen-tr’m, si-ne-ma, si-rǎ-mǎu-ni’)
• caligrafie, cliënt, creatief
  • (‘ca-li-hra-fi, cli-ent, creatif’)

d — pronounced as [t] if it appears at the end of the word

• hond(dog), kleed(carpet), land(land)
  • (‘hont, kleit, lant’)
• dame(lady), dief(thief), dwerg(dwarf)
  • (‘da’m, dif, dverh’)

f — usually compared to [v] and [w]. Understand the difference:

• fier(proud), vier(four), wier(seaweed)
  • (‘pfi-ǎr, fi-ǎr, vi-ǎr’)
• fout(error), vouw(crease), woud(forrest)
  • (‘pf-aut, fau, va-ut’)
• Fin(Finnish person), vin(fin of a fish), win(as in “I win”)
  • (‘pfin, fin, vin’)
• fraai(beautiful), vraag(question), wraak(revenge)
  • (‘pfraai, fraah, vraak’)

so f is “pf”, v is “f”, w is “v”

g — The famous Dutch guttural sound

• geinig (funny), grap (joke), berg (mountain)
  • (‘hhei-nǎh, hrap, berhh’)

Some people find it hard to distinguish between g and h. Compare the following pairs and see if you can hear the difference:

• gaan (to go) / haan (rooster)
  • (‘hhaan, han’)
• goed (good) / hoed (hat)
  • (‘hhut, hut’)
• gier (vulture) / hier (here)
  • (‘hhi-ǎr, hi-ǎr’)
• gek (crazy) / hek (fence)
  • (‘hhek, hek’)
• gang (corridor) / hang (tendency)
  • (‘hhanh, hanh’)

tongue twister: Het gaat heel goed (it is going really well) — het hhaat heil hhut.

So ‘g’ is the glutural ‘hh’ and ‘h’ is like in Romanian.

j — Pronounce like “i” in Romanian

• jarig (adjective for having one’s birthday), spiegeltje (little mirror), jas (coat, jacket)
  • (‘ia-r’h, spi-hhǎl-tiǎ, ias’)

qu — the letter ‘q’ only occurs in originally foreign words. It is always combined with the vowel ‘u’. The combination qu is pronounced as ‘kv’

• aquarium, quasi (quasi), queeste (quest), quiz (quiz)
  • (‘akv-ari-ǎm, kva-si, kve-st, kves’)

t — try to pronounce it like “ț”. This is how the Dutch do it.

• taart (cake), trein (train), twaalf (twelve)
  • (‘țaarț, țren, țvaalf’)

v — just a reminder to pronounce like ‘f’

• vader(father), lever(liver), vent(chap)
  • (‘fa-dǎr, lei-fǎr, fent’)

Consonants combinations

ch — same as letter ‘g’ where you have the gluttural ‘hh’.

• licht (light), bochel (hunch), stichting (foundation)
  • (‘lihht, bohh’l, stihht’n’)

sch — Same as above but preceded by ‘s’

• schip (ship), waarschijnlijk (probably), schrander (clever)
  • (‘shhip, vaarshhei’n’lk, shhra-n’dr’)

ng — pronounce it like in ‘king’, and not like in ‘tango’. the ‘n’ is very silent. This is where you actually hear ‘g’.

• wang(cheek), zingen(to sing), mengen(to mix)
  • (‘va-nng’, ‘zi-nng’n, menng’n’)

a syllable never ends in two identical consonants

words like jazz, butt, Swiss are impossible in Dutch. Only in borrowed words.

Voiced and unvoiced consonants

The Dutch themselves often refer to them as ‘hard’ (unvoiced) and ‘soft’ (voiced) consonants.

• A soft consonant is called ‘voiced’ because you need to use your voice (vocal cords) to produce a sound.
• A hard (unvoiced) consonant can be produced even without using your voice.
• Each voiced consonant has an unvoiced counterpart. Examples are b and p and d and t.

As in many languages, including the English one, voiced consonants are sometimes replaced by their unvoiced counterparts. Take the English word thief. In the plural, f turns into v: thieves.

A Dutch word never ends in the soft consonants z or v. Instead, we use their hard equivalents s and f.

For example, the word bazen (bosses). To get its singular, we subtract -en:

baz

I notice the long vowel turned into a short one(which is incorrect), so we add an extra a:

baaz

Following the rule that a Dutch word never ends in a z or v, I replace z by s:

baas

Examples:

Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular
scherven (scatters)	scherf	druiven (grapes)	druif
reuzen (giants)	reus	leuzen (slogans)	leus

• (‘shhe-rv’n — shherf, drau-v’n — drauf, reo-z’n — reos, leo-z’n — leos’)

We apply the same principle to verbs. To derive the verb stem from an infinitive, we have to subtract -en.

Infinitive	Stem	Infinitive	Stem
durven (to dare)	durf	blijven (to stay)	blijf
wijzen (to point)	wijs	lezen (to read)	lees

• (‘diur-v’n — diurf, blai-v’n — blaiff, vei-z’n, veis, lei-z’n, leis’)

Irregular Pronunciation

There are a few types of words that deviate from the pronunciation rules:

Een

The Dutch indefinite article een (English a or an) is written with a ee. However, this ee is pronounced as a mute e (‘schwa’ — ǎ)

The Dutch word for one is één (‘ein’), which is pronounced with a long ee. To make it a long ee, we use an acute accent. Note that this is an exception. Normally, a double ee is pronounced as a long vowel, and does not need accents to make it long.

All adjectives that end in the suffix -lijk

In these words ij is pronounced schwa — ‘ǎ’:

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
fatsoenlijk	decent	eerlijk	fair
vrolijk	cheerful, happy	werkelijk	really
ongelooflijk	incredible	begrijpelijk	understandable

• (‘fats-un-lǎk, eir-lǎk, fro-lǎk, ver-kǎ-lǎk, onng-hǎlu-flǎk, bǎ-hhrei-pǎ-lǎk’)

Sometimes, the -lijk ending is not a suffix, so it is pronounced with the normal (long) ij:

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
je hebt gelijk	you are right	lijk	corpse

• (‘ie hept hhǎ-leik’, laik’)

All adjectives that end with the suffix -ig

i is pronounced like the mute e (ǎ):

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
aardig	kind	nodig	necessary
geldig	valid	zielig	pitiful
hooghartig	arrogant	geduldig	patient

• (‘aard-ǎh, nou-dǎh, hhel-dǎh, zi-lǎh, ho-hhar-tǎh, hǎ-dul-dǎh’)
• geldig has a clear “e” sound because the stress falls on that syllable. geld = money

All words that end in the suffix -tie

This suffix is pronounced as the English tsee, or Romanian ți:

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
politie	police	tolerantie	tolerance
vakantie	vacation	emotie	emotion

• (‘po-li-ți, to-le-ran-ți, va-kan-ți, e-mo-ți’)

In the letter combination chtj, the letter t is not pronounced

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
zachtjes	quietly, gently	vachtje	’little’ fur
zuchtje	’little’ sigh	luchtje	’little’ smell, perfume

• (‘zahh-tiǎ, fahh-tiǎ, zuhh-tiǎ, luhh-tiǎ’)

When the word possesses the letter combination th, we only pronounce t

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
theologie	theology	empathie	empathy
thee	tea	thema	theme

• (‘te-o-lo-hi, em-pa-ti, tei, te-ma’)

All adjectives that end in the suffix -isch

We pronounce ‘isch’ simply as Romanian ‘is’

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
Russisch	Russian	islamitisch	islamic
idealistisch	idealistic	egoïstisch	selfish

• (‘rus-is, is-la-mi-tis, i-de-a-lis-tis, e-ho-is-tis’)

Terug

In the word terug (back) e is not pronounced. So we say: t’r’hh.

Rode and goede

In the words rode (red) and goede (good) the letter d is pronounced as a Dutch j (or English y in Yankee). This is how it should be pronounced, but not everybody knows that.

In written Dutch, you may come across rooie and goeie, but this is only used in informal texts. The same goes for goeiemorgen (good morning), goeiemiddag (good afternoon), goeienavond (good evening), and goeienacht (good night), which should be written as goedemorgen, goedemiddag, goedenavond, and goedenacht.

interesting, this one. People most pronounce the ‘d’. I did hear some old people pronouncing it as “i”.

Diacritics

Accents and apostrophes

Basically, the only ones worth discussing about are the acute accent á and the apostrophe a'. I already covered the dieresis ä.

The acute accent

It’s used for several reasons:

1. To stress a word in a phrase

Place the accent above the vowel you want to emphasize.

If the syllable has two vowels, we place the acute accent on both of them. However, we never put an acute accent over a capital letter.

If a vowel combination consists of three vowels we only place accents over the first two vowels.

Dutch	Meaning
Dat was háár ijsje.	That was her ice cream.
Ik wil het nú!	I want it now!
Dat is héél mooi.	That is very nice.
Kán jij dat?	Can you do that?
Tóé nou!	Come on!
Die fiets is niet óud, hij is níéuw!*	That bike is not old, it is new!

• (‘dat vas haar ei-jiǎ’), (‘ik vil het niu’), (‘dat is heil mooi’), (‘kan iai dat’), (‘tu nou’), (‘di fits is nit aud, hai is niu’)

The accents tell you that you have to put more stress on the word. In general, this means that you have to stretch the word a bit and use a slightly higher pitch.

Do not exaggerate this.

2. To distinguish een (an) from één (one)

Dutch	Meaning
Hij heeft een boek.	He has a book.
Hij heeft één boek.	He has one book.

• (‘hai heift ǎn buk’), (‘hai heift ein buk’)

Violating all rules, the article een is pronounced as if it had a mute e, while we can clearly see it should be a long one (double vowel). The word één (one) is indeed pronounced as a long one.

3. To indicate different meaning of voor (for)

We can also use it for the word voor (for, before). If we place two accent over oo, the word means before, in the sense of time as well as place. If we do not use the accent, the word can mean both for (as in for you) and before. Note that it is not necessary to use the accent here, it is just often done to avoid misunderstandings.

Dutch	Meaning
Ik zal vóór jou opstaan.	I will get up before you.
Ik zal voor jou opstaan.	I will get up for you.

• (‘ik zal voor iau opstaan’)

4. French words

We use the accent over the letter e in words that are derived from French. The accent turns e into a long vowel, where it otherwise would have been pronounced as a mute e (English the).

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
logé	pronounce ‘lo-jei’	(overnight) guest
coupé	pronounce ‘coo-pei’	train compartment
paté (or: pâté)	pronounce ‘pah-tei’	paste, pate
oké	pronounce ‘o-key’	okay

The apostrophe

It’s used in the following cases:

1. To show that a letter has been omitted

Dutch	Full form	Meaning
zo’n	(zo een)	such a
’n	(een)	a, an
’t	(het)	it
m’n	(mijn)	my
z’n	(zijn)	his
A’dam	(Amsterdam)	Amsterdam
’s avonds	(des avonds*)	in the evening
’s winters	(des winters*)	in the winter
’s Gravenhage	(des Gravenhage*)	The Hague

des is an old-fashioned Dutch form of “of the”, which they do not use anymore. They still use it in some common expressions, but mostly in abbreviated form with an apostrophe.

2. To keep a vowel long when adding -s to a noun

If a noun ends in an unstressed vowel, its plural gets -s at the end. To keep the long vowel long, we use an apostrophe. Recall that if a single vowel sits in a syllable that ends in one or more consonants, it is a short vowel.

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
collega’s	colleagues	alibi’s	alibis
baby’s	babies	accu’s	storage batteries

• (‘co-lei-hhas, a-li-bis, like in english, acus’)

Not all vowels need an apostrophe to remain long:

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
logés	(overnight) guests	coupés	train compartments

• (‘lou-jei, cu-peis’)

The acute accent already tells us that the vowel is long — we do not need to keep it long by adding an apostrophe.

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
schaapjes	(little) sheep	bloemetjes	(little) flowers

• (‘shh-aa-pi-’s, blu-me-ties’)

---

Verbs

Technically speaking, there are only two tenses (present, past), but along with ‘aspect’ and ‘modality’ we can create other tenses like the perfect, future, or conditional tense. In total, the Dutch use 8 basic tenses.

#	Tense	Nederlands	English
1	Present	ik werk	I work
2	Simple past	ik werkte	I worked
3	Perfect	ik heb gewerkt	I have worked
4	Pluperfect	ik had gewerkt	I had worked
5	Future	ik zal werken	I will work
6	Conditional	ik zou werken	I would work
7	Future perfect	ik zal hebben gewerkt	I will have worked
8	Conditional perfect	ik zou hebben gewerkt	I would have worked

• continuous or ‘progessive’ — Ik ben aan het lopen (I am walking).
• imperative — “Eat!”
• passive voice — “I am eaten by …”
• subjunctive — “So be it”

And of course verbs can also act as nouns (“the shining”) or adjectives (“a shining star”).

Irregular Verbs

Must be learned by heart. Also called ‘strong’ verbs, as opposed to weak verbs (regular), since they refuse to abide by the regular rules of conjugation.

Auxiliary Verbs

Use them for the perfect tense

• I have said, I want to say, I have to say, I hope to say

Some auxiliary verbs are always followed by te, others by aan het, and some require nothing.

Compound Verbs

A compound verb consists of a verb and another word, like ondernemen (to undertake), or deelnemen (to participate, to take part).

Personal Pronouns (Persoonlijke Voornaamwoorden)

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ik (I)	we (we)
2nd	je / u (you)	jullie (you)
3rd	hij / zij / het (he / she / it)	ze (they)

Stressed vs. Unstressed Pronouns

Several Dutch pronouns have a stressed (or ‘marked’) and an unstressed form (je/jij, ze/zij, we/wij).

The unmarked (unstressed) personal pronouns are much more commonly used than their marked equivalents. Most textbooks use the marked forms in tables, but getting accustomed to the unmarked forms is preferable, as using the marked forms too often can sound stiff and unnatural.

The verb stem

So we have regular and irregular verbs. Regular verbs all follow the same conjugation. To conjugate a regular verb, we need to know the stem. Therefore, before I actually learn how to conjugate, I need to be able to derive the stem from an infinitive.

Dutch infinitives always end in -en. worken (to work), zien (to see), weten (to know).

The general rule for deriving the crude stem

**stem = infinitive minus ‘-en’ **

A few rules regarding the verb stem:

1. Long vowel infinitives require long vowel stems
2. A stem never ends in two identical consonants
3. A stem never ends in v or z
4. The stem of a ‘iën verb’ ends in ie.

Stem rule 1: Regular verbs can have long or short vowels. However you can conjugate the verb, the length of the vowel must stay the same. Same thing to mantaining vowel length in singular, plural nouns I covered earlier.

• Take for example maken (to make). Following the rule of deriving the crude stem, we get mak. However, ‘a’ is a short vowel here (a single, closed vowel). To keep it long, add an extra a, and the final stem becomes maak.

Infinitive	English	Crude Stem	Stem
nemen	to take	nem	neem
lopen	to walk	lop	loop
leren	to learn	ler	leer
koken	to cook	kok	kook
breken	to break	brek	breek
vuren	to shoot	vur	vuur
horen	to hear	hor	hoor
weten	to know	wet	weet

Stem rule 2: If a crude stem ends in two consonants, we subtract one.

Recall that a syllable also never ends in two identical consonants.

Infinitive	English	Crude Stem	Stem
pakken	to get	pakk	pak
missen	to miss	miss	mis
wennen	to get used	wenn	wen
lukken	to succeed	lukk	luk
stoppen	to stop	stopp	stop
vallen	to fall	vall	val

Stem rule 3: If the stem ends in v or z, they turn into f and s respectively.

It’s the same concept where voiced consonants v and z turn into unvoiced f and s.

infinitive	english	crude stem	stem
leven	to live	lev	leef
lozen	to dump	loz	loos
werven	to acquire	werv	werf
wuiven	to wave	wuiv	wuif
beven	to tremble	bev	beef
durven	to dare	durv	durf
bonzen	to pound	bonz	bons

Stem rule 4: There are a few verbs that end in -iën. The dieresis over e indicates that e is the beginning of a new syllable.

So we only subtract -n. We keep -e but we remove the dieresis.

INFINITIVE	ruziën (to quarrel)	skiën (to ski)	oliën (to oil)
STEM	ruzie	skie	olie

Conjugation of the simple present tense

Subject	Form	Subject	Form
ik	[stem]	we	infinitive
je	[stem] + t	jullie	infinitive
hij	[stem] + t	ze	infinitive

The verbs maken, leren, huren en koken are all subject to the first stem rule: A long vowel infinitive requires a long vowel stem.

Maken (to make), koken (to cook), leren (to learn) and huren (to rent):

Subject	maken (stem: maak)	koken (stem: kook)	leren (stem: leer)	huren (stem: huur)
ik	maak	kook	leer	huur
je	maakt	kookt	leert	huurt
hij	maakt	kookt	leert	huurt
we	maken	koken	leren	huren
jullie	maken	koken	leren	huren
ze	maken	koken	leren	huren

Observing the rule that a syllable never ends in two identical consonants: If the stem of a verb ends in –t, (like rust or blaat) the stem does not get an extra t in the conjugation of the 2nd and the 3rd person singular.

Subject	rusten (stem: rust)	blaten (stem: blaat)	praten (stem: praat)	stoten (stem: stoot)
ik	rust	blaat	praat	stoot
je	rust	blaat	praat	stoot
hij	rust	blaat	praat	stoot
we	rusten	blaten	praten	stoten
jullie	rusten	blaten	praten	stoten
ze	rusten	blaten	praten	stoten

Pay special attention to the following four verbs where the stem ends in -d: even though you cannot hear -t in the second and third person singular, you should not forget to add -t!

Bloeden (to bleed), leiden (to lead), vinden (to find), and vermijden (to avoid):

Subject	bloeden (stem: bloed)	leiden (stem: leid)	vinden (stem: vind)	vermijden (stem: vermijd)
ik	bloed	leid	vind	vermijd
je	bloedt	leidt	vindt	vermijdt
hij	bloedt	leidt	vindt	vermijdt
we	bloeden	leiden	vinden	vermijden
jullie	bloeden	leiden	vinden	vermijden
ze	bloeden	leiden	vinden	vermijden

Using the simple present tense

Dutch are keen users of the present tense. They even use it to refer to the future or hypothetical (conditional) sentences.

The simple present tense is used in four cases:

1. to refer to a momentary action that coincides with the moment we are talking about it

If I say “I look at the painting”, I am looking while mentioning it. We can also (and often do) use the continuous: “I am looking at the painting”. Exactly like in Romanian

Ik neem een hapje.	I am taking a bite.
Het regent.	It is raining.
Ze valt bijna in slaap.	She is almost falling asleep.

2. to refer to an ongoing, habitual or repetitive action or state

The action or state is not tied to the moment we are talking about it. Exactly like in Romanian.

Dutch	English
Ze werkt bij de overheid.	She works for the government.
Hij studeert in Groningen.	He studies in Groningen.
Ik woon in Gent.	I live in Ghent.

“Ik woon in Gent” implies an ongoing state. It is likely that I also lived in Ghent yesterday and I will still live there tomorrow. It is an enduring state, which is not tied to the moment I mention it. Note that the Dutch always use the simple present to refer to a state which is still going on:

Dutch	English
Ik woon al drie jaar in Gent.	I have lived in Ghent for three years. (Trǎiesc de 3 ani in Ghent)
Ik tennis al vanaf mijn tiende jaar.	I have played tennis ever since I was ten years old. (Joc tenis de când aveam 10 ani)
Hij zorgt al jaren voor zijn zieke moeder.	He has been looking after his ill mother for years. (Are grijǎ de mama lui de ani de zile)

Where English speakers use the perfect tense, the Dutch use the simple present. If you say “Ik heb drie jaar in Gent gewoond”, it means that you do not live there anymore.

A few more examples of habitual or repetitive actions:

Dutch	English
Ze komt altijd te laat.	She is always late.
Hij luistert elke morgen naar de radio.	He listens to the radio every morning.
Ik eet geen vlees.	I do not eat meat.

The vegetarian who says “Ik eet geen vlees”, wants to express that he generally (habitually) does not eat meat.

3. to refer to a future event (in combination with an adverb of time)

Although we do have a future tense to refer to actions or events that take place in the future, the Dutch often use the simple present. The speaker uses an adverb of time (tomorrow, next week) to indicate that he is referring to the future. Exactly like in Romanian

Dutch	English
We eten morgen erwtensoep.	We will eat peasoup tomorrow. (Mâncǎm supǎ mâine)
Hij vliegt aanstaande vrijdag naar Rome.	He will fly to Rome coming Friday. (Zboarǎ vinerea viitoare la Roma)
Ik neem er straks nog een.	I will have another one in a moment. (Mai iau una imediat)

4. to refer to a hypothetical ‘if - then’ situation

Where English speakers use the auxiliary verb ‘will’ after an ‘if clause’, the Dutch are perfectly happy with the simple present. The Dutch equivalent for ‘will’ (zullen) can be used as well but it will make a sentence sound rather stiff. Exactly like in Romanian

Dutch	English
Als je het licht uitdoet, kun je de sterren beter zien.	If you switch off the light, you (will) see the stars better.
Als alles volgens plan verloopt, komen ze volgende week terug naar Nederland.	If everything is going according to the plan, they (will) come back to the Netherlands next week.
Als je te veel cola drinkt, krijg je gaatjes in je tanden.	If you drink too much coke, you (will) get cavities in your teeth.

Conjugation of the simple past tense

Here I should know the difference between t and d verbs. Basically, we speak of a t-verb when the crude stem (not the final one) of a verb ends in c,f,h,k,p,s,t.

Just remember “pocket fish” — that way you know whether it’s a t or d verb.

Infinitive	Crude stem	Stem	Last letter crude stem	In pocket fish?	d- or t-verb?
zweven (to float)	zwev	zweef	v	no	d verb
verven (to paint)	verv	verf	v	no	d verb
lozen (to dump)	loz	loos	z	no	d verb
razen (to rage)	raz	raas	z	no	d verb

Even though the stem ends in f or s, the verbs are d-verbs, as their crude stems end in v and z respectively.

So with the simple past tense, a t-verb takes -te(n) and a d-verb takes -de(n).

• T-verb

Subject	Form	Subject	Form
ik	[stem] + te	we	[stem] + ten
je	[stem] + te	jullie	[stem] + ten
hij	[stem] + te	ze	[stem] + ten

• D-verb

Subject	Form	Subject	Form
ik	[stem] + de	we	[stem] + den
je	[stem] + de	jullie	[stem] + den
hij	[stem] + de	ze	[stem] + den

Examples

Merken (to notice) and wensen (to wish)

Subject	merken (stem: merk)	wensen (stem: wens)
ik	merkte	wenste
je	merkte	wenste
hij	merkte	wenste
we	merkten	wensten
jullie	merkten	wensten
ze	merkten	wensten

Note the double t in the conjugation of rusten and double d in the conjugation of bloeden. You do not hear the double d or t, but you do have to write it! We bloeden and we bloedden are pronounced the same, but the first is the present tense, the latter the past. (lol)

Subject	luisteren (to listen)	kussen (to kiss)	roeien (to row)	lenen (to lend, to borrow)	rusten (to rest)	bloeden (to bleed)
ik	luisterde	kuste	roeide	leende	rustte	bloedde
je	luisterde	kuste	roeide	leende	rustte	bloedde
hij	luisterde	kuste	roeide	leende	rustte	bloedde
we	luisterden	kusten	roeiden	leenden	rustten	bloedden
jullie	luisterden	kusten	roeiden	leenden	rustten	bloedden
ze	luisterden	kusten	roeiden	leenden	rustten	bloedden

Apparently even to Dutchies, the difference between past simple and present perfect is often rather unclear.

We use simple past:

1. to refer to events that took place in the past and that do not have a relation to the present

If the event is still relevant to the present time, we use the present perfect.

Karel de Grote regeerde van 800 tot 814.	Charlemagne reigned from 800 until 814.
De Industriële Revolutie begon in Engeland.	The Industrial Revolution began in England.

2. to describe what went on during a certain past event

Everything is set in the past

Dat was zo’n natte picknick vorig jaar, weet je nog? Het regende pijpenstelen!	That was such a wet picknick last year, do you remember? It was raining cats and dogs!
Op zijn verjaardag feliciteerden we hem, zongen we een verjaardagsliedje en gaven we hem een cadeau.	On his birthday, we congratulated him, sang a birthday song, and gave him a present.
Tijdens de kabinetscrisis was de premier op vakantie.	During the cabinet crisis, the prime-minister was on vacation.

To set the stage in the past, we usually use the present perfect tense (underlined in the examples below). All events and actions that follow are described by the simple past.

Dutch	English
We zijn gisteren naar de bioscoop geweest en raad eens wie we daar tegenkwamen?	We went to the cinema yesterday and guess whom we ran into?
We zijn dit jaar naar Slovenië op vakantie geweest. We verbleven eerst in een hotel in Ljubljana en daarna logeerden we een week bij vrienden in de buurt van het Bledmeer.	This year, we went on vacation to Slovenia. First, we stayed in a hotel in Ljubljana and then, we stayed a week with friends near Lake Bled.
Er is veel commotie rond geweest. Ze zeiden dat hij het geld had verduisterd.	There has been a lot of commotion about it. They said that he had embezzled the money.

The last example already gives you a preview of the pluperfect tense (had verduisterd or ‘had embezzled’).

3. when we introduce a past action or event by ‘toen’ (when)

When we point to a past event by using toen (when), we generally use the simple past tense. If we use the perfect tense at all, it must be pluperfect.

Toen ik wakker werd, scheen de zon volop.	When I woke up, the sun was shining brightly.
Toen we terugkwamen van vakantie, schrokken we ons kapot: er liepen allemaal kakkerlakken in de badkamer!	When got back from vacation, we were really shocked: We had cock-roaches in our bathroom!
Toen je drie jaar werd, kreeg je een knuffelbeer met een grote rode hoed.	When you turned three, you got a teddy bear with a huge red hat.

Note that we also use toen as a translation of ‘then’. The above examples of toen all mean ‘when’.

Conjugation of the past principle

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