Tag Archives: verbs
What is the difference between Kennen and Weten? Posted by Sten on Jan 24, 2019
Kennen and weten are two Dutch verbs that look different, but translated to English mean exactly the same: “to know”. So what is the difference? When do you use kennen? And when do you use weten? Weten Weten seems to refer to actually having researched knowledge, made observations about a certain topic – like a scientist that weet something. In fact, science is…
Odd Gramatical Terms in Dutch Grammar – Pt. 2: Verbs Posted by Sten on Apr 18, 2016
If you have studied any language, or even just English, you have come across terms for the types of words and word combinations in the language. You might have also come across the widespread Latin terms for cases: nominativus, accusativus, dativus, genitivus, or even an ablativus. This is to identify the role of nouns in a sentence. These were…
Step By Step: How To Rule Dutch Weak Verbs! Posted by Sten on Mar 10, 2016
A zwak werkwoord (“weak verb” – a regular verb) is a verb that does not change in the past tense. For example leven, leefde, geleefd (to live, lived, lived). A sterk werkwoord (“strong verb” – an irregular verb) is one that does change, such as lopen, liep, gelopen (to walk, walked, walked). Then there are also “normal” onregelmatige werkwoorden (irregular verbs), like zijn, was, geweest (to be…
Back to Basics: Using the Present Tense Posted by Karoly Molina on Aug 12, 2015
I know most of you are thinking…why do we need to go back to the basics with the present tense? This is perhaps the first grammar lesson we get in Dutch classes, and, to be honest, one of the easiest rules. So why am I going to devote a post to the present tense? I’ve…
Dutch Verb Boot Camp: The Simple Past Tense (Part 1) Posted by heather on Jul 5, 2012
We have already talked about the present tense in Dutch, so let’s move on to the past tense. Today we will investigate weak verbs. In the past tense, we deal with verbs differently based on if they are a weak verb or a strong verb. weak verbs have letters added to make the change strong…
Dutch Verb Boot Camp Posted by heather on Apr 5, 2012
Let’s start a Dutch verb boot camp, shall we? Verbs are such an important part of most languages, including Dutch, that it makes sense for us to take a closer look at them. Today we will make a quick overview of Dutch verb tenses and a couple of other important components but before we do…
Verbs Used When Giving Directions Posted by heather on Jun 16, 2011
How are you getting on with the vocabulary I introduced in my last post? Hopefully you have been trying out some of the techniques that I suggested (and some of your own) and are making some steady progress. Stick with it, I promise it will be worth it in the end. Today we are going…