The dictionary might show more:
to celebrate (verb) vieren, vierde, gevierd
Explanation:

The dictionary might add information about the auxiliary verb:
to celebrate (verb) vieren, vierde, heb gevierd
Explanation:

The dictionary might show:
to come (verb) komen, kwam, ben gekomen
Explanation:

Spelling Summary

Simple Present Tense - weak and strong verbs

To make the present tense conjugation for ik (I, the first person)

To make the present tense conjugation for the other persons in the singular:

To make the present tense conjugation for the plural:

Note for all persons (singular and plural): If the verb has a separable prefix

Simple Present Tense - irregular verbs

For irregular verbs, you need more information to conjugate the simple present tense.

Simple Past Tense - weak verbs

For weak verbs, take the same stem you have made when you worked on the 1st person present tense. Some extra letters are added to this stem to make the past tense of weak verbs. When the sound of the last letter of the crude stem is f, ch, s, t, k, or p, we add te in the singular and ten in the plural. In all the other cases we add de in the singular and den in the plural.
voelen - we voelden - to feel - we felt
bakken - hij bakte - to bake - we baked

You can remember the six sounds by for instance memorising the phrase:

Spelling adaptations apply to the singular and the plural.

Simple Past Tense - strong and irregular verbs

For strong and irregular verbs, you need more information to conjugate the simple past tense.

Weak Past Participles

When you know a verb is weak, you can find out what the past participle is.

You can remember the six sounds by for instance memorising the phrase:

Note: compound verbs are conjugated differently.

Strong Past Participles

To conjugate strong past participles you need more information about the verb involved. The ending is en.

Types of Verbs

There are five types of verbs in Dutch

Irregular verbs behave unpredictable. Important verbs are often irregular, like zijn (to be) and hebben (hebben):
Ik ben. Ik was. Ik ben geweest. - I am. I was. I have been.
Ik heb. Ik had. Ik heb gehad. - I have. I had. I have had.

Weak verbs of the T-class are regular verbs. In the examples you can see that these verbs always have a t in the past tense.
Ik pak. Ik pakte. Ik heb gepakt. - I grab. I grabbed. I have grabbed.
Ik schaats. Ik schaatste. Ik heb geschaatst. - I skate. I skated. I have skated.

Weak verbs of the D-class are regular verbs. In the examples you can see that these verbs always have a d in the past tense.
Ik voel. Ik voelde. Ik heb gevoeld. - I feel. I felt. I have felt.
Ik hoor. Ik hoorde. Ik heb gehoord. - I hear. I heard. I have heard.

Strong verbs have vowel changes, when going from the simple present tense to the other tenses.
When the verb is zingen the vowel changes from i to o. The word gezongen has an en ending, common for strong verbs.
Ik zing. Ik zong. Ik heb gezongen. - I sing. I sang. I have sung.
Ik kies. Ik koos. Ik heb gekozen. - I choose. I chose. I have chosen.

Some verbs do not fit in one category, but in two categories. The verb bakken is weak, but gebakken looks like a strong element.
Ik bak. Ik bakte. Ik heb gebakken. - I bake. I baked. I have baked.

Simple Present - Weak and Strong Verbs

To conjugate the singular (I, you, he, she, it) take the infinitive, remove en and make some adaptations when needed.
To conjugate the plural (we, you, they) take the infinitive (the word you find in the dictionary) and used it.

Note: If a verb is separable, then remove the separable prefix and add this prefix to the phrase as a separate word, at the end of the phrase.

The table below shows the pattern of the simple present. The word stem must be replaced by the stem of the verb you use. Fill in the English translations at the dots (...).

Once you have made the stem, the conjugation for all singular persons can be made. In the singular, add a t to the stem, except when the verb is followed by je or jij, or when the subject is ik.

Simple Present Pattern for weak and strong verbs infinitive - simple present
singular		plural
ik stem	I ...	we infinitive wij infinitive	we ... we ...
je stem + t u stem + t	you ... you ...	jullie infinitive	you ...
hij stem + t ze stem + t zij stem + t het stem + t	he ... she ... she ... it ...	ze infinitive zij infinitive	they ... they ...

Remind: In the present tense, when the verb proceeds jij or je, the verb loses the t.

The persons u (you, formal), ze (she), zij (she), het (it), wij (we), zij (they) are not shown in every table. Small tables look like this:

Simple Present Pattern for weak and strong verbs infinitive - simple present
singular		plural
ik stem	I ...	we infinitive	we ...
je stem + t	you ...	jullie infinitive	you ...
hij stem + t	he ...	ze infinitive	they ...

Spelling Adaptations in the Singular

In the singular (I, you, he, she, it), verbs often need some adaptations, that are not needed in the plural.

When a verb does not need these special adaptations, the 1st person singular is made this way:

Four different kinds of adaptations occur. The first step is to remove en from the infinitive. The result we call the crude stem. After you have made the crude stem, adapt it using these four rules. The result after the application of the rules is called the stem.

Rule 1. When the crude stem ends with a z, the first person singular ends with an s. The vowel sounds the same.
reizen, ik reis - to travel, I travel
kiezen, ik kies - to choose, I choose
verliezen, ik verlies - to loose, I loose
On the next verb, rule 4 was applied too.
lezen, ik lees - to read, I read

Rule 2. When the crude stem ends with a v, the first person singular ends with an f. The vowel sounds the same.
blijven, ik blijf - to stay, I stay
schrijven, ik schrijf - to write, I write
On the next verb, rule 4 was applied too.
geven, ik geef - to give, I give

Rule 3. A double-consonant-ending (like kk) is not allowed. We have to remove a k from the crude stem to get bak.
bakken, ik bak - to bake, I bake
Other examples:
vullen, ik vul - to fill, I fill
redden, ik red - to save, I save
vallen, ik val - to fall, I fall
stappen, ik stap - to step, I step

Rule 4. Pronunciation Maintenance Rule (of the Vowel)
Look at the vowel of the last syllable of the crude stem. That vowel must be pronounced the same as the vowel in the infinitive. Otherwise, the crude stem must be adapted by changing the vowel. If it is necessary to adapt the vowel, a becomes aa, e becomes ee, o becomes oo, or u becomes uu. (The vowel i is not in this list, and neither are sounds like ei or eu.)

Rules 2 and 4 are applied to conjugate geven (to give). The pronunciation difference between the consonants v and f is not large.

geven (to give) - simple present
singular		plural
ik geef	I give	we geven	we give
je geeft	you give	jullie geven	you give
hij geeft	he gives	ze geven	they give

Example of rule 4:
weten is to know. Translate: “I know.”

Example of rule 4:
lezen is to read. Translate: “I read.”
To this verb, two adaptations are made:

Other examples of rule 4:
slapen, ik slaap - to sleep, I sleep
laten, ik laat - to let, I let

Exceptions to rule 4. An often occurring irregularity
Sometimes, rule 4 is not applied deliberately. Then we get a pronunciation change.
Example:
The stem of komen (to come) is kom. The vowel o in komen is pronounced like oo. That is a clear sound, because it is an open syllable.
The 1st person conjugation is kom, while we would expect koom, after reading the rules. This is something irregular. We can only learn it by heart, when we want to know how to conjugate such a verb. The pronunciation of kom is dull, like o in the English word “dot”.
komen, ik kom - to come, I come

Komen is an exception to rule 4.

komen (to come) - simple present
singular		plural
ik kom	I come	we komen	we come
je komt	you come	jullie komen	you come
hij komt	he comes	ze komen	they come

A Characteristic of the Simple Present Tense

In the simple present, you cannot see the difference between:

Example Verbs in the Simple Present Tense

Example verb:
Voelen is a weak, regular verb.

The verb voelen (to feel) shows up in six ways. It depends on the person we talk about. First we remove en from the verb. The crude stem voel is the result. In this case the crude stem does not need any adaptations, so the stem is voel also. We add t or en to voel, or nothing at all.

voelen (to feel) - simple present
singular		plural
ik voel	I feel	we voelen	we feel
je voelt	you feel	jullie voelen	you feel
hij voelt	he feels	ze voelen	they feel

When je (or jij) is the subject, the word order influences the spelling of the verb. The letter t of voelt is dropped, when voel precedes je. Then we get “voel je”. Otherwise we get “je voelt”. This can only happen in the present tense. In occurs in every verb (except when there is no t to loose).
je voelt - you feel
voel je - you feel
voel je - do you feel

In the present tense, you cannot see the difference between a weak and a strong verb. In the present tense, zingen (a strong verb) has the same pattern as voelen (a weak verb). The stem of zingen is zing. We add t, en or nothing to the stem.

zingen (to sing) - simple present
singular		plural
ik zing	I sing	we zingen	we sing
je zingt	you sing	jullie zingen	you sing
hij zingt	he sings	ze zingen	they sing

The verb betalen is weak.
The dictionary shows: to pay (verb) betalen, betaalde, betaald.
The word betalen is the infinitive. Make the present tense for ik by removing en and inserting an extra a to maintain the right pronunciation.

betalen (to pay) - simple present
singular		plural
ik betaal	I pay	we betalen	we pay
je betaalt	you pay	jullie betalen	you pay
hij betaalt	he pays	ze betalen	they pay

Simple Present - Verbs having an aan ending

When the infinitive of a verb has an aan-ending (instead of the more common en-ending), then remove the last letter, an n, to get the stem. The verb staan (to stand) is conjugated like this:

staan (to stand) - simple present
singular		plural
ik sta	I stand	we staan	we stand
je staat	you stand	jullie staan	you stand
hij staat	he stands	ze staan	they stand

What seems to be irregular is the first person conjugation ik sta. It looks as if a letter is missing, but it is typical to the Dutch language to write the aa sound as a at the end of a word (or at the end of a syllable). The pronunciation of a in sta, aa in staat and aa in staan is aa (a clear vowel).

This way you can conjugate all other verbs having the aan ending, like bestaan (to exist), overslaan (to skip), verslaan (to defeat), gaan (to go), etc. By the way: some of them are compound verbs, like overslaan.

overslaan (to skip) - simple present
singular		plural
ik sla over	I skip	we slaan over	we skip
je slaat over	you skip	jullie slaan over	you skip
hij slaat over	he skips	ze slaan over	they skip

Simple Present - Irregular Verbs

An irregular verb behaves unpredictable. All we can do is memorize the conjugations.

Zijn is an irregular verb. We see words like ben, bent, is, etc.

zijn (to be) - simple present
singular		plural
ik ben	I am	we zijn	we are
je bent	you are	jullie zijn	you are
hij is	he is	ze zijn	they are

Hebben is an irregular verb.

Note that ik heb and je hebt have just one b (pronounced as p), which is a regular conjugation. Double b at the end of a word does not occur in Dutch.

hebben (to have) - simple present
singular		plural
ik heb	I have	we hebben	we have
je hebt	you have	jullie hebben	you have
hij heeft	he has	ze hebben	they have

This is the verb zullen in the simple present tense. We will need it later on to make the simple future tense.

zullen (shall, will) - simple present
singular		plural
ik zal	I will	we zullen	we will
je zult	you will	jullie zullen	you will
hij zal	he will	ze zullen	they will

Simple Past - Weak Verbs

If you know a verb is weak, you can find out if that verb belongs to the T-class, or to the D-class. In the simple present this does not matter, but in the simple past it does matter.

We take the verb botsen (to collide) as an example.

The verb voelen (to feel) is a D-verb.

If the crude stem of the verb ends with f ch s t k, or p, it is a T-verb. You can remember the six letters by memorizing this phrase:

Four Chinese speakers train kind people.
F - CH - S - T - K - P

These are about the sharpest sounds in Dutch. Remember that ch is one sound in Dutch, and pronounced very sharp. The difference between whispering f-ch-s-t-k-p and saying it is not audible. Compare these sounds with: b, d, l, m, n, r, v, z. They have distinct sounds. They are soft and take the soft d-suffixes. The sharp g-sound is an exception, because it takes the soft d-suffixes anyway. A suffix is a series of letters to add to a word, like de, den, te, and ten.

This is the pattern to use for T-verbs.

Simple Past Pattern for weak verbs of the T-class infinitive - simple past
singular		plural
ik stem + te	I ...	we stem + ten wij stem + ten	we ... we ...
je stem + te u stem + te	you ... you ...	jullie stem + ten	you ...
hij stem + te ze stem + te zij stem + te het stem + te	he ... she ... she ... it ...	ze stem + ten zij stem + ten	they ... they ...

This is the pattern to use for D-verbs.

Simple Past Pattern for weak verbs of the D-class infinitive - simple past
singular		plural
ik stem + de	I ...	we stem + den wij stem + den	we ... we ...
je stem + de u stem + de	you ... you ...	jullie stem + den	you ...
hij stem + de ze stem + de zij stem + de het stem + de	he ... she ... she ... it ...	ze stem + den zij stem + den	they ... they ...

Example verb:
wachten (to wait) is a weak verb. What is “I waited” in Dutch?

Example verb:
voelen (to feel) is a weak verb too. What is “I felt” in Dutch?

The table of wachten is shown right here. Look at the syllables that are added to wacht. These syllables are te and ten.

wachten (to wait) - simple past
singular		plural
ik wachtte	I waited	we wachtten	we waited
je wachtte	you waited	jullie wachtten	you waited
hij wachtte	he waited	ze wachtten	they waited

Let’s look again at the past tense of the verb voelen (to feel). Make the crude stem voel by removing en. Watch the last letter of the crude stem voel. It is an l. After an l we add suffixes to voel like de or den. The table is shown here.

voelen (to feel) - simple past
singular		plural
ik voelde	I felt	we voelden	we felt
je voelde	you felt	jullie voelden	you felt
hij voelde	he felt	ze voelden	they felt

Verbs that are borrowed from foreign languages are sometimes spelled in such a way that this method can’t work.
racen (to race) is a verb like that. A decision was made that racen is a T-verb. The reason is this. If racen would have been a verb of Dutch origin, it would have been spelled this way: resen. And the s of the (non existing) verb resen makes it a T-verb. Here you can see that the sound matters, and not just the written character.

racen (to race) - simple past
singular		plural
ik racete	I raced	we raceten	we raced
je racete	you raced	jullie raceten	you raced
hij racete	he raced	ze raceten	they raced

Example verb:
vieren is a weak verb.

The dictionary shows:
to celebrate (verb) vieren, vierde, gevierd.
The word vierde is the past tense. You can make the table right away. Just use the pattern.

vieren (to celebrate) - simple past
singular		plural
ik vierde	I celebrated	we vierden	we celebrated
je vierde	you celebrated	jullie vierden	you celebrated
hij vierde	he celebrated	ze vierden	they celebrated

In the paragraph of the simple present tense four rules are listed concerning spelling adaptations. These rules apply in the simple past in the singular and in the plural. In this case rule 4 is applied to preserve the pronunciation of the vowel.

horen (to hear) - simple past
singular		plural
ik hoorde	I heard	we hoorden	we heard
je hoorde	you heard	jullie hoorden	you heard
hij hoorde	he heard	ze hoorden	they heard

Here rule 4 is applied too. Read the Spelling Summary to learn more about stem changes.

maken (to make) - simple past
singular		plural
ik maakte	I made	we maakten	we made
je maakte	you made	jullie maakten	you made
hij maakte	he made	ze maakten	they made

Simple Past - Strong Verbs

The infinitive of a verb, like zingen, does not show you if a verb is strong or not. When you know the verb is strong, you also need to know which vowel change must be made. When you know that, you can make the table right away.

The dictionary shows:
to sing (verb) zingen, zong, gezongen.
The word zong is the past tense. Just add en in the plural.
The vowel change of this strong verb is from i to o.

zingen (to sing) - simple past
singular		plural
ik zong	I sang	we zongen	we sang
je zong	you sang	jullie zongen	you sang
hij zong	he sang	ze zongen	they sang

The next example shows the effect of stem adaptations in the past tense of strong verbs.

When you read in the dictionary: to understand (verb) begrijpen, begreep, begrepen
then you can conclude that the table of the past tense of this verb is like this:

begrijpen (to understand) - simple past
singular
ik begreep	I understood
je begreep	you understood
hij begreep	he understood
plural
we begrepen	we understood
jullie begrepen	you understood
ze begrepen	they understood

The vowel e in the bold syllable of begrepen is pronounced the same as ee in the bold syllable of begreep. As already said, this adaptation (to preserve the right pronunciation of a vowel) only occurs when vowels like a, e, o, or u are involved.

Simple Past - Irregular Verbs

An irregular verb behaves unpredictable. All we can do is memorize the conjugations.

hebben is an irregular verb. In the past tense we get:

hebben (to have) - simple past
singular		plural
ik had	I had	we hadden	we had
je had	you had	jullie hadden	you had
hij had	he had	ze hadden	they had

zijn is an irregular verb. In the past tense we get:

zijn (to be) - simple past
singular		plural
ik was	I was	we waren	we were
je was	you was	jullie waren	you were
hij was	he was	ze waren	they were

This is the verb zullen in the simple past tense.

zullen (shall, will) - simple past
singular		plural
ik zou	I would	we zouden	we would
je zou	you would	jullie zouden	you would
hij zou	he would	ze zouden	they would

The Past Participle

Almost every verb has a past participle. There is one (maybe two) per verb.

For example, the dictionary shows:
to celebrate (verb) vieren, vierde, gevierd.

The word gevierd is the past participle.

In the following example, geweest is the past participle. The past participle is in bold font.
Ik ben. Ik was. Ik ben geweest. - I am. I was. I have been.

More than often the past participle begins with ge.
Ik voel. Ik voelde. Ik heb gevoeld. - I feel. I felt. I have felt.
Ik zing. Ik zong. Ik heb gezongen. - I sing. I sang. I have sung.
Ik pak. Ik pakte. Ik heb gepakt. - I grab. I grabbed. I have grabbed.

In Dutch, the following past participles occur:

If the stem of the verb ends with f ch s t k, or p, it is a T-verb. You can remember the six letters by memorizing this phrase:

Four Chinese speakers train kind people.
F - CH - S - T - K - P

Weak Verbs
If you know a verb is weak, you can find out what the past participle is.

The least complicated past participles have three components:

Examples:
The past participle of voelen (to feel) is made like this: ge + voel + d.
The letter l is responsible for this.
The past participle is: gevoeld.
In a sentence: Ik heb gevoeld. - I have felt.

The past participle of schaatsen (to skate) is made like this: ge + schaats + t.
The letter s is responsible for this. It is part of: “Four Chinese speakers train kind people”
The past participle is: geschaatst.
In a sentence: Ik heb geschaatst. - I have skated.

Sometimes ge is not there, because another prefix takes its place.
Ik heb verloren. - I have lost.
Ik heb haar iets beloofd. - I have promised her something.
These past participles have three components:

When the verb has a separable prefix, we add that prefix to the past participle.
Ik ben weggeschaatst. - I have skated away.
Ik ben aangekomen. - I have arrived.
These past participles have four components:

Strong Verbs
If a verb is strong, the past participle is not built using the stem of the verb. It looks as if the stem is used, but it is not. Very often, you see another vowel in the middle of the word. The ending is en.

Examples:
The dictionary shows: to sing (verb) zingen, zong, gezongen.
The past participle is gezongen.
The dictionary shows: to carry (verb) dragen, droeg, gedragen.
The past participle is gedragen.
The dictionary shows: to walk (verb) lopen, liep, gelopen.
The past participle is gelopen.

Past participles in English
Let’s compare this to English, where the past participle is made by taking the stem and adding ed to it.
Example: “I have walked.”
Irregular and strong verbs occur.
Example: “I have built.”

Past participles as adjectives
Past participles can be used as adjectives. Adjectives make a text more compact, but using too many of them makes a text less readable.
het gezongen lied - the song that was sung
de verloren sleutel - the lost key
The past participle geweest of the verb zijn (to be) cannot be used like this. It has to be adapted to gewezen.
de gewezen burgemeester - the former burgomaster
When a past participle is weak, its adjective is made according to the rules for making adjectives. An extra e is added in these two cases.
de gegooide bal - the thrown ball
de gebruikte mixer. - the used mixer.

Spelling Problem Weak Past Participles: d or t

A d and a t both sound like t at the end of a Dutch word. Therefore native speakers sometimes spell weak past participles incorrectly. They have no problems spelling strong past participles because of their en-ending.

Native speakers and people who are familiar with spoken Dutch, can find out the spelling of a (weak) past participle as follows. When a past participle is used as an adjective, the difference between d and t suddenly becomes audible, if you make a suitable test-sentence.

The d in gegooide sounds like a d, and reveals the correct spelling of gegooid.
Ik heb de bal gegooid. - I have thrown the ball.
de gegooide bal - the thrown ball

The t in gebruikte sounds like a t, and reveals the correct spelling of gebruikt.
Ik heb een mixer gebruikt. - I have used a mixer.
de gebruikte mixer. - the used mixer.

This method is slightly faster than using “Four Chinese Speakers Train Kind People” or its Dutch equivalent, the well known phrase: ’t kofschip.

Present Perfect

To make the present perfect, you need to know:

Let’s try to do something complicated. The verb wachten is weak. What is “We have waited.” in Dutch?

We need:

We must make the past participle gewacht. (Because the word wacht does not need any adaptations, we just ignore the difference between the crude stem and the stem here.)

We can find the past participle gewacht in a dictionary too.

Now we need the table of hebben - simple present. You can find the table in the chapter about the simple present.
The present perfect of wachten shown below, is based on the table of the simple present of hebben. The only difference is, that the word gewacht (waited) is added everywhere.

wachten (to wait) - present perfect
singular		plural
ik heb gewacht	I have waited	we hebben gewacht	we have waited
je hebt gewacht	you have waited	jullie hebben gewacht	you have waited
hij heeft gewacht	he has waited	ze hebben gewacht	they have waited

The translation of “We have waited.” can be found in this table. The result is “We hebben gewacht.”

Past Perfect

To make the past perfect, you need to know:

Let’s try to translate “She had waited.” into Dutch.

We need:

We must make the past participle gewacht. The previous paragraph explains how.

Then we need the table of hebben - simple past. You can find the table in the chapter about the simple past.
The past perfect of wachten shown below, is based on the table of the simple past of hebben. Write down that table and add the word gewacht in every record.

wachten (to wait) - past perfect
singular		plural
ik had gewacht	I had waited	we hadden gewacht	we had waited
je had gewacht	you had waited	jullie hadden gewacht	you had waited
hij had gewacht	he had waited	ze hadden gewacht	they had waited

The translation of “He had waited.” can be found in this table: “Hij had gewacht.” She conjugates the same as he. The result is “Ze had gewacht.”

Auxiliary verbs

An auxiliary verb assists another verb in a sentence. The use of zijn (to be) and hebben (to have) is shown here.
Ik ben gevonden. - I am found.
Ik heb het gevonden. - I have found it.

These two auxiliary verbs are called static verbs. We have a dynamic verb also: worden (to become). It describes a process, or a change in a situation.
Ik word gedragen tot ik ergens kan zitten. - I am carried, until I can sit down somewhere.

When verbs like to be are used as auxiliary verbs, they loose their original meaning. English and Dutch both have auxiliary verbs like this.

Simple Future

To make the simple future tense you need to know:

The verb zullen in the present tense is found in the chapter about the simple present tense.

If you want to make a table of the simple future of vinden, then write down the simple present of zullen first. When you have done that, add the verb vinden to every sentence. This is the result:

vinden (to find) - simple future
singular		plural
ik zal vinden	I will find	we zullen vinden	we will find
je zult vinden	you will find	jullie zullen vinden	you will find
hij zal vinden	he will find	ze zullen vinden	they will find

The simple future tense of the verb hebben (to have) is made the same way.

hebben (to have) - simple future
singular		plural
ik zal hebben	I will have	we zullen hebben	we will have
je zult hebben	you will have	jullie zullen hebben	you will have
hij zal hebben	he will have	ze zullen hebben	they will have

This is simple future tense of the verb zijn (to be).

zijn (to be) - simple future
singular		plural
ik zal zijn	I will be	we zullen zijn	we will be
je zult zijn	you will be	jullie zullen zijn	you will be
hij zal zijn	he will be	ze zullen zijn	they will be

This is simple future tense of the verb worden (to become). It is made by replacing zijn by worden throughout the table.

worden (to become) - simple future
singular		plural
ik zal worden	I will become	we zullen worden	we will become
je zult worden	you will become	jullie zullen worden	you will become
hij zal worden	he will become	ze zullen worden	they will become

Future Perfect

The previous paragraph shows the simple future of the verbs zijn (to be), hebben (to have) and worden (to become). The future perfect is built on one of them.

To make the future perfect, you need to know:

In this example, we will translate into Dutch: “I will have waited.”

If you want to make a table of the future perfect of wachten, then write down the simple future of hebben first. When you have done that, add the word gewacht to every sentence. This is the result:

wachten (to wait) - future perfect
singular		plural
ik zal hebben gewacht	I will have waited	we zullen hebben gewacht	we will have waited
je zult hebben gewacht	you will have waited	jullie zullen hebben gewacht	you will have waited
hij zal hebben gewacht	he will have waited	ze zullen hebben gewacht	they will have waited

Conditional

To make the conditional you need to know:

The verb zullen in the simple past tense is found in the chapter about the simple past tense.

If you want to make a table of the conditional mood of vinden, then write down the simple past of zullen first. When you have done that, add the verb vinden to every sentence. This is the result:

vinden (to find) - conditional mood
singular		plural
ik zou vinden	I would find	we zouden vinden	we would find
je zou vinden	you would find	jullie zouden vinden	you would find
hij zou vinden	he would find	ze zouden vinden	they would find

The verb hebben (to have) is in the conditional:

hebben (to have) - conditional mood
singular		plural
ik zou hebben	I would have	we zouden hebben	we would have
je zou hebben	you would have	jullie zouden hebben	you would have
hij zou hebben	he would have	ze zouden hebben	they would have

The verb zijn (to be) is in the conditional:

zijn (to be) - conditional mood
singular		plural
ik zou zijn	I would have been	we zouden zijn	we would have been
je zou zijn	you would have been	jullie zouden zijn	you would have been
hij zou zijn	he would have been	ze zouden zijn	they would have been

The verb worden (to become) is in the conditional:

worden (to become) - conditional mood
singular		plural
ik zou worden	I would have become	we zouden worden	we would have become
je zou worden	you would have become	jullie zouden worden	you would have become
hij zou worden	he would have become	ze zouden worden	they would have become

Conditional Perfect

If an action would have been completed in the past, when certain conditions would have been met, we use the conditional mood and the perfect tense.

To make the conditional perfect you need to know:

In this example, we will translate into Dutch: “They would have waited.”

The verb wachten in the conditional perfect is shown below. It is based on the verb hebben (to have) in the conditional mood.

wachten (to wait) - conditional perfect
singular		plural
ik zou hebben gewacht	I would have waited	we zouden hebben gewacht	we would have waited
je zou hebben gewacht	you would have waited	jullie zouden hebben gewacht	you would have waited
hij zou hebben gewacht	he would have waited	ze zouden hebben gewacht	they would have waited

The Infinitive

The infinitive of a verb is the word you look up in a dictionary, when you search for a verb.

The verb zullen (shall, will) is followed by an infinitive, not by a past participle. The infinitive in this example is komen.
We zullen komen. - We will come.
Ik zal komen. - I will come.

Another example is the conditional mood.
We zouden komen. - We would come.
Ik zou komen. - I would come.

Modal verbs are followed by an infinitive, just like the verb zullen.
Ik kan komen. - I can come.
Ik mag komen. - I am allowed to come.

The word te (to) has to be added sometimes when using an infinitive.
Ik probeer te komen. - I try to come.
Ik vergeet te komen. - I forget to come.

Infinitives must replace past participles in some cases

Sometimes a past participle is replaced by an infinitive, when an extra verb is added to the sentence. The next two sentences show that gegaan (a past participle) is replaced by gaan (an infinitive) when an extra infinitive is added to the sentence. You cannot add werken (to work) to the first sentence without making the adaptations you see here.
Hij is gegaan. - He went.
Hij is gaan werken. - He went to work.
Another example of this is:
Hij heeft daar gestaan. - He stood there.
Hij heeft daar staan kijken. - He stood there watching.

Infinitives as nouns

You can use a verb as a noun. Look up the infinitive in the dictionary and place an article in front of it. The article to use for infinitives is always het (the).
het maken van een website - the making of a website
het sturen van een e-mail - the sending of a email
Het schoonmaken van de kamer heeft een uur geduurd. - The cleaning of the room took an hour.

But the word het often means it, even when followed by an infinitive. The infinitives are not used as nouns in the examples below.
Ik ga het maken. - I am going to construct it.
Ik ga het schoonmaken. - I am going to clean it.

There is another way to make nouns out of verbs. These nouns look like past participles, but they are not. Take the conjugation of I (first person, present tense), and add a prefix: ge. Very often, this kind of words are interpreted as a complaint about something. Not many verbs are used like this.
het geblaf van de honden - the barking of the dogs
het geklaag - the complaints
Dat geschreeuw is vervelend als je aan het studeren bent. - Those shouts are annoying when you are studying.

Modal Verbs

A modal verb changes or modifies the meaning of the infinitive it precedes. An infinitive is a word you look up in a dictionary, when searching for a verb. Modal verbs are followed by an infinitive, not by a past participle. They are used like zullen (shall, will), so they are used like this:
Ik zal komen. - I will come.

Just replace zullen by one of the modal verbs you see below. The infinitive we use as an example is komen (to come).
Ik kan komen. - I can come.
Ik mag komen. - I am allowed to come.
Ik moet komen. - I must come.
Ik wil komen. - I want to come.

You can also replace hij zal (he will) by hij zou kunnen (he might).
Hij zal komen. - He will come.
Hij zou kunnen komen. - He might come.

The verb gaan (to go) is often used instead of zullen.
Ik ga schoonmaken. - I am going to clean up.

When you look at the English translations of the previous sentences, you will see that the word to is used sometimes. The Dutch equivalent is te. The following verbs use te, when followed by an infinitive. They are not followed by a past participle.
Ik probeer te komen. - I try to come.
Ik vergeet te komen. - I forget to come.
Ik durf te komen. - I dare to come.
Ik hoor te komen. - I ought to come.
Zij lijkt te begrijpen wat hij zei. - She seems to understand what he said.
Hij blijkt te werken. - It became evident that he is working.

The verb hoeven (need) is peculiar. It is used in negations only, unless the word maar (an untranslated word in this case) is involved. This means that the sentence must include maar or a negative word like niet (not), geen (no), or nooit (never).
Hij hoeft niet te werken als hij ziek is. - He doesn’t need to work if he is ill.
Je hoeft geen e-mailadres te hebben. - You don’t need to have an email address.
Dat hoef je maar één keer te doen. - You need to do this only once.

Present Participle

The present participle is used when two actions take place at the same time. To make a present participle, take the infinitive of the verb and add d to it. For example, zingend is the present participle of the verb zingen (to sing).

Examples:
Ze liep zingend naar huis. - She walked home (while) singing.
Hij liep hard pratend door. - He walked on (while) talking loud.
Hij trok zijn schoenen zittend uit. - He took of his shoes while sitting.
‘Wat een leuke verrassing,’ zei ze glimlachend. - ‘What a nice surprise,’ she said, smiling.

The suffix de can be added instead of d, but this isn’t done very often.
Moeder zijnde, maak ik me daar zorgen om. - Being a mother, this worries me.
More common are:
Als moeder maak ik me daar zorgen om. - Being a mother, this worries me.
Omdat ik moeder ben, maak ik me daar zorgen om. - Because I am a mother, this worries me.

Present participles are often used as adjectives.
de schaatsende vrouwen - the skating women
het smeltende ijs - the melting ice
het verliezende team - the losing team
een hinnikend paard - a neighing horse

Compound Verbs

There are two kinds of compound verbs.

Compound Verbs with an Inseparable Prefix

The verb voorkomen (to prevent) has a prefix. This prefix is voor, which means in front of.
To make the present tense of voorkomen you need to:

You see want happens. The verb gets a prefix everywhere. In the simple past tense, it works the same way.
Ik kwam. - I came.
Ik voorkwam. - I prevented.

The past participle of voorkomen is made this way:

This method you read about applies to inseparable compound verbs only.

Dictionary example:
The dictionary shows: to sell (verb) verkopen, verkocht, heb verkocht.
The past participle is verkocht.

Compound Verbs with a Separable Prefix

When a compound verb has a separable prefix, this prefix can wander around in a sentence.

The verb aankomen (to arrive) has a prefix. This prefix is aan, which means at.
To make the present tense of aankomen you need to:

You see the prefix is separated from the verb. In the past tense we get:
Ik kwam. - I came.
Ik kwam aan. - I arrived.

The past participle of aankomen is made this way:

The following examples show that the (separable) prefix tends to move to the end of the sentence.
Ik kom aan. - I arrive.
Ik kom morgen aan. - I will arrive tomorrow.
Ik kwam aan. - I arrived.
Ik kwam gisteren aan. - I arrived yesterday.
Ik kwam gisteren met de bus aan. - I arrived by bus yesterday.

Past participles behave the same. They move to the end of a sentence. The past participles of compound verbs are no exception to this.
Ik ben aangekomen. - I have arrived.
Ik ben gisteren met de bus aangekomen. - I have arrived by bus yesterday.
Ik ben voor de andere bezoekers aangekomen. - I have arrived before the other visitors.

It is remarkable that the verb voorkomen (to occur) exists in Dutch, because it looks like voorkomen (to prevent), which is another verb. The verb voorkomen (to occur) is separable, but voorkomen (to prevent) is inseparable. In the next two sentences the stressed syllables of the verbs are underlined. When (a syllable of) the prefix is stressed, the verb is separable.
Het zal voorkomen. - It will occur.
Het zal voorkomen. - It will prevent.

More forms of voorkomen (to occur) are:
Het komt voor. - It occurs.
Het kwam voor. - It occurred.
Ze kwamen voor. - They occurred.
Sneeuwstormen kwamen vroeger meer voor. - Snow storms occurred more often in the past.

Remark: An extra complexity occurs in compound sentences. The next sentences are included only to show that separable verbs are not separated in every case. Pay attention to the bold words in these sentences to get the point.
Je weet in welke steden dat probleem voorkomt. Dat probleem komt hier ook voor. - You know in what cities that problem occurs. That problem occurs here too.
Je weet op welke dag ze aankomt. Ze komt morgen aan. - You know on which day she will arrive. She will arrive tomorrow.
This additional complexity is caused by the typical word order of Dutch clauses (subsentences). Of course, inseparable verbs remain inseparable, which is shown in the following examples.
Je weet welk probleem hij voorkomt. Hij voorkomt fraude. - You know which problem he prevents. He prevents fraud.
Je weet welk probleem hij beschrijft. Hij beschrijft fraude. - You know which problem he discribes. He discribes fraud.

To get used to prefixes, we will look at a small list of compound verbs. The stressed syllables are underlined. All these ten verbs are separable verbs.
tegenkomen - to meet
doorgeven - to pass on
teruggeven - to give back
opgeven - to give up
verspringen - to jump in a long jump competition
voorstellen - to introduce, to suggest
nadenken - to think for a while
uitleggen - to explain
terugkomen - to come back, to return
meenemen - to take with you

Example phrases:
Ik kom terug. - I will come back.
Ik ben teruggekomen. - I came back.

If ge is added to the infinitive when making the past participle (like uitgelegd) of a compound verb, it is always a separable verb. We cannot know if a compound verb is separable or not, if we only know the infinitive (like uitleggen).

Dictionary example:
The dictionary shows: to explain (verb) uitleggen, legde uit, heb uitgelegd.
The past participle is uitgelegd.

Verb Prefixes

Sometimes the prefix of the past participle is not ge. This is the case when a verb (the infinitive itself) begins with ver, be, ont, her or another prefix.

Inseparable Verbs without ge in the Past Participle

The following verbs do not have a ge in the past participle. Some of them are compound verbs, like verkopen (to sell), which is derived from kopen (to buy).

Note: The second syllable of every verb in this list is stressed.

vertellen - to tell
veranderen - to change
vertrekken - to depart
beginnen - to begin
verkopen - to sell
vergeven - to forgive
begrijpen - to understand
verlaten - to leave
betalen - to pay
vertrouwen - to trust
ontmoeten - to meet
herinneren - to remember
verlangen - to desire
verliezen - to loose
bezoeken - to visit
bereiken - to reach
beschermen - to protect
verdienen - to earn, to deserve
ontbijten - to have breakfast
beloven - to promise
herkennen - to recognize

Example sentences:
Ik herken jou. - I recognize you.
Ik heb jou herkend. - I have recognized you.

Inseparable Verbs starting with ge

Verbs without any prefix occur when ge is already part of the verb. These verbs even have a ge in the simple present and simple past. This is because ge is part of the verb.
gebeuren - to happen
geloven - to believe
genezen - to recover, to heal
gebruiken - to use
gehoorzamen - to obey
genieten - to enjoy

Example sentences:
Ik gebruik blauwe verf. - I use blue paint.
Hij gebruikt blauwe verf. - He uses blue paint.

In fact, the past participles of these verbs are irregular, because no ge was added to these verbs to make the past participles. In the next example, the past participle is in bold font. The t-ending is not influenced by what happens in front.
Hij heeft blauwe verf gebruikt. - He has used blue paint.

Spelling Problem Present Tense: word or wordt

Because word and wordt are pronounced exactly the same, these words are sometimes spelled incorrectly by native speakers. The conjugation table of worden is shown below.

worden (to become)
	present	past
I	ik word	ik werd
you	je wordt	je werd
he	hij wordt	hij werd
we	we worden	we werden
you	jullie worden	jullie werden
they	ze worden	ze werden

The verbs houden (to keep), rijden (to drive) and vinden (to find) cause the same problems.

Spel je “vind je” met dt? - Do you spell “vind je” with dt?
Nee, want “vind” staat voor “je”. - No, because “vind” is before “je”.

If you are a native speaker or if you use the verb lopen (to walk) very often in spoken language, this dt-test will work: Replace the difficult verb by lopen only to test if you hear the letter t then. If you hear the letter t then, it’s there.

Word je morgen vijftig? - Are you becoming fifty tomorrow?
Loop je? - Are you walking?

Conjugation of Leven

In this paragraph, the conjugation of the verb leven in the present tense is found.

Present Tense

First person singular ik (I).

Second person singular. To make the present tense conjugation for je (you) and jij (you)

Third person singular. To make the present tense conjugation for u (you), hij (he), ze (she), zij (she) and het (it)

First, second and third person plural. To make the present tense conjugation for plural persons