The 20 Most Common Dutch Irregular Verbs: Zijn, Hebben, Gaan and More
You finally build a clean Dutch sentence in your head — and then zijn, hebben, or gaan ruins the pattern. One verb changes its vowel, another uses a strange past tense, and suddenly a sentence that looked simple feels slippery. The good news: the most common Dutch irregular verbs repeat constantly, so once you drill them properly, they start to feel familiar fast. If you want to speak real Dutch, you need these verbs on automatic recall — not just passive recognition. Below, we’ll group the 20 most common Dutch irregular verbs by pattern, show full conjugation tables, and give you memory shortcuts that actually stick.
- Dutch irregular verbs often have unpredictable past tense and past participle forms.
- The two most important verbs are zijn (to be) and hebben (to have), because Dutch also uses them as auxiliaries.
- Many so-called irregular verbs are actually strong verbs: they change their vowel in the past tense.
- You’ll remember them faster if you learn them in vowel-pattern families instead of random lists.
- At VerbPal, we drill these forms with active recall and spaced repetition, so you produce them from memory instead of just recognising them.
Why Dutch irregular verbs matter so much
If you listen to Dutch for five minutes, you hear irregular verbs everywhere: ik ben, ik heb, ik ga, ik kwam, ik zag, ik dacht. These aren’t rare literary forms. They’re the backbone of daily speech.
That matters for two reasons:
- You need them to build basic sentences.
- You need them again to build compound tenses like the perfect.
For example:
Ik ben moe. (I am tired.)
Ik heb geen tijd. (I don’t have time.)
Ik ben gegaan. (I have gone / I went.)
Ik heb het gezien. (I have seen it.)
If you hesitate on these forms, your whole sentence slows down. That’s why we always recommend learning irregular verbs as complete systems: infinitive, present tense, past tense, and past participle. In VerbPal, we push this further by making you retrieve the form before you see it, because adult learners improve faster when they produce language actively.
Pro Tip: Don’t memorise just the infinitive. Learn each irregular verb as a four-part bundle: infinitive + present + past singular/plural + past participle.
The two core auxiliary verbs: zijn and hebben
These two verbs deserve special treatment. They are common main verbs, but they also help form other tenses. If you don’t know zijn and hebben cold, Dutch grammar feels shaky everywhere.
1) zijn — to be
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | ben | I am |
| jij/je | bent | you are |
| hij/zij/het | is | he/she/it is |
| wij/we | zijn | we are |
| jullie | zijn | you are (plural) |
| zij/ze | zijn | they are |
- Past singular: was
- Past plural: waren
- Past participle: geweest
Examples:
Hij is thuis. (He is at home.)
Wij waren gisteren laat. (We were late yesterday.)
Ik ben in Amsterdam geweest. (I have been to Amsterdam.)
2) hebben — to have
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | heb | I have |
| jij/je | hebt | you have |
| hij/zij/het | heeft | he/she/it has |
| wij/we | hebben | we have |
| jullie | hebben | you have (plural) |
| zij/ze | hebben | they have |
- Past singular: had
- Past plural: hadden
- Past participle: gehad
Examples:
Ik heb een vraag. (I have a question.)
Zij had weinig tijd. (She had little time.)
We hebben geluk gehad. (We have had luck / We were lucky.)
A crucial grammar point: Dutch uses hebben with most verbs in the perfect tense, but movement and change-of-state verbs often use zijn.
Ik heb gewerkt. (I worked / I have worked.)
Ik ben gegaan. (I went / I have gone.)
If you want a broader overview later, our Dutch conjugation tables make it easy to compare these forms.
Pro Tip: Treat zijn and hebben as non-negotiable. Drill them daily until you can say every form without thinking.
Use the mini-chain ben–was–geweest and heb–had–gehad as a chant. Then connect it to the Dutch word-order puzzle: in main clauses, the finite verb sits in slot 2, but in subordinate clauses the verb cluster moves to the end. Think of Dutch sentences as Lego pieces. Ik ben moe. (I am tired.) becomes omdat ik moe ben (because I am tired). Locking in both the form and the slot saves you trouble later.
Group 1: the everyday movers — gaan, komen, blijven, vinden
These verbs appear in daily conversation constantly. They don’t all share the same exact vowel pattern, but they work well as a practical first cluster because you use them to talk about movement, presence, and opinions.
3) gaan — to go
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | ga | I go |
| jij/je | gaat | you go |
| hij/zij/het | gaat | he/she/it goes |
| wij/we | gaan | we go |
| jullie | gaan | you go (plural) |
| zij/ze | gaan | they go |
- Past singular: ging
- Past plural: gingen
- Past participle: gegaan
Ik ga morgen naar Utrecht. (I’m going to Utrecht tomorrow.)
Hij ging vroeg weg. (He left early.)
We zijn al gegaan. (We already left / have already gone.)
4) komen — to come
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | kom | I come |
| jij/je | komt | you come |
| hij/zij/het | komt | he/she/it comes |
| wij/we | komen | we come |
| jullie | komen | you come (plural) |
| zij/ze | komen | they come |
- Past singular: kwam
- Past plural: kwamen
- Past participle: gekomen
Wanneer kom je? (When are you coming?)
Hij kwam te laat. (He came too late.)
Ze is net gekomen. (She just arrived.)
5) blijven — to stay
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | blijf | I stay |
| jij/je | blijft | you stay |
| hij/zij/het | blijft | he/she/it stays |
| wij/we | blijven | we stay |
| jullie | blijven | you stay (plural) |
| zij/ze | blijven | they stay |
- Past singular: bleef
- Past plural: bleven
- Past participle: gebleven
Ik blijf thuis. (I’m staying home.)
Hij bleef rustig. (He stayed calm.)
We zijn lang gebleven. (We stayed a long time.)
6) vinden — to find / to think
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | vind | I find / think |
| jij/je | vindt | you find / think |
| hij/zij/het | vindt | he/she/it finds / thinks |
| wij/we | vinden | we find / think |
| jullie | vinden | you find / think (plural) |
| zij/ze | vinden | they find / think |
- Past singular: vond
- Past plural: vonden
- Past participle: gevonden
Ik vind het moeilijk. (I find it difficult / I think it’s difficult.)
Zij vond een oplossing. (She found a solution.)
We hebben het boek gevonden. (We found the book.)
Pattern note: vinden belongs to a useful family with binden and drinken in broader Dutch vocabulary: present with i, past with o, participle with o.
Pro Tip: Learn meaning and grammar together. With vinden, memorise both “find” and “think/find (opinion)” because Dutch uses the same verb for both.
Group 2: the seeing-and-speaking family — zien, geven, nemen, spreken
This group helps you communicate fast: seeing, giving, taking, speaking. Several of these verbs shift vowels in a way that becomes easier once you notice the pattern.
7) zien — to see
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | zie | I see |
| jij/je | ziet | you see |
| hij/zij/het | ziet | he/she/it sees |
| wij/we | zien | we see |
| jullie | zien | you see (plural) |
| zij/ze | zien | they see |
- Past singular: zag
- Past plural: zagen
- Past participle: gezien
Zie je dat? (Do you see that?)
Ik zag hem gisteren. (I saw him yesterday.)
We hebben de film al gezien. (We’ve already seen the film.)
8) geven — to give
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | geef | I give |
| jij/je | geeft | you give |
| hij/zij/het | geeft | he/she/it gives |
| wij/we | geven | we give |
| jullie | geven | you give (plural) |
| zij/ze | geven | they give |
- Past singular: gaf
- Past plural: gaven
- Past participle: gegeven
Ik geef je later antwoord. (I’ll give you an answer later.)
Hij gaf me een boek. (He gave me a book.)
Ze heeft goede uitleg gegeven. (She gave a good explanation.)
9) nemen — to take
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | neem | I take |
| jij/je | neemt | you take |
| hij/zij/het | neemt | he/she/it takes |
| wij/we | nemen | we take |
| jullie | nemen | you take (plural) |
| zij/ze | nemen | they take |
- Past singular: nam
- Past plural: namen
- Past participle: genomen
Ik neem de trein. (I’m taking the train.)
Hij nam mijn stoel. (He took my seat.)
We hebben een beslissing genomen. (We made a decision.)
10) spreken — to speak
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | spreek | I speak |
| jij/je | spreekt | you speak |
| hij/zij/het | spreekt | he/she/it speaks |
| wij/we | spreken | we speak |
| jullie | spreken | you speak (plural) |
| zij/ze | spreken | they speak |
- Past singular: sprak
- Past plural: spraken
- Past participle: gesproken
Ik spreek een beetje Nederlands. (I speak a little Dutch.)
We spraken elkaar gisteren. (We spoke to each other yesterday.)
Heb je met hem gesproken? (Have you spoken with him?)
Pattern note: geven, nemen, and spreken all show a clear long-vowel present and a shorter past vowel: geef/gaf, neem/nam, spreek/sprak.
Pro Tip: Say these out loud in triads: ik geef – ik gaf – ik heb gegeven. Production beats silent reading every time.
Group 3: the ij/ee → ee family — schrijven, kijken, rijden, drijven
This is one of the most useful memory families in Dutch. Several common strong verbs shift from ij or a related long vowel in the present to ee in the past.
11) schrijven — to write
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | schrijf | I write |
| jij/je | schrijft | you write |
| hij/zij/het | schrijft | he/she/it writes |
| wij/we | schrijven | we write |
| jullie | schrijven | you write (plural) |
| zij/ze | schrijven | they write |
- Past singular: schreef
- Past plural: schreven
- Past participle: geschreven
Ik schrijf een e-mail. (I’m writing an email.)
Hij schreef een brief. (He wrote a letter.)
Ze heeft het adres opgeschreven. (She wrote the address down.)
12) kijken — to look
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | kijk | I look |
| jij/je | kijkt | you look |
| hij/zij/het | kijkt | he/she/it looks |
| wij/we | kijken | we look |
| jullie | kijken | you look (plural) |
| zij/ze | kijken | they look |
- Past singular: keek
- Past plural: keken
- Past participle: gekeken
Ik kijk naar de tv. (I’m watching TV.)
We keken naar de wedstrijd. (We watched the match.)
Heb je al gekeken? (Have you looked already?)
13) rijden — to drive / ride
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | rijd | I drive / ride |
| jij/je | rijdt | you drive / ride |
| hij/zij/het | rijdt | he/she/it drives / rides |
| wij/we | rijden | we drive / ride |
| jullie | rijden | you drive / ride (plural) |
| zij/ze | rijden | they drive / ride |
- Past singular: reed
- Past plural: reden
- Past participle: gereden
Ik rijd naar mijn werk. (I drive to work.)
Hij reed te hard. (He drove too fast.)
We zijn samen naar huis gereden. (We drove home together.)
14) drijven — to float / drift
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | drijf | I float / drift |
| jij/je | drijft | you float / drift |
| hij/zij/het | drijft | he/she/it floats / drifts |
| wij/we | drijven | we float / drift |
| jullie | drijven | you float / drift (plural) |
| zij/ze | drijven | they float / drift |
- Past singular: dreef
- Past plural: dreven
- Past participle: gedreven
Het hout drijft op het water. (The wood floats on the water.)
De boot dreef langzaam weg. (The boat drifted away slowly.)
Het is naar de kant gedreven. (It drifted to the side.)
Pattern note: schrijven → schreef, kijken → keek, rijden → reed, drijven → dreef. This is exactly why grouping by vowel pattern helps.
Pro Tip: Build mini-families on flashcards: one side says “ij/ee family,” the other side lists the four forms. Pattern memory reduces load.
The fastest way to master Dutch irregular verbs is to retrieve them, not reread them. In VerbPal, we surface forms like zag, gezien, gaf, and genomen right when you’re about to forget them, using spaced repetition based on the SM-2 algorithm and active production drills. We also keep the Dutch sentence puzzle in view: main clauses want the finite verb in slot 2, while subordinate clauses push the verb cluster to the end. That means you practise both the form and where it belongs.
Try VerbPal free →Group 4: the e → a/o family — eten, lezen, helpen, denken
Now we move into a very practical set of high-frequency verbs. Not all four follow the exact same historical pattern, but they’re worth learning together because they dominate everyday conversation.
15) eten — to eat
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | eet | I eat |
| jij/je | eet | you eat |
| hij/zij/het | eet | he/she/it eats |
| wij/we | eten | we eat |
| jullie | eten | you eat (plural) |
| zij/ze | eten | they eat |
- Past singular: at
- Past plural: aten
- Past participle: gegeten
Wat eet je vanavond? (What are you eating tonight?)
Hij at te snel. (He ate too fast.)
We hebben al gegeten. (We’ve already eaten.)
16) lezen — to read
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | lees | I read |
| jij/je | leest | you read |
| hij/zij/het | leest | he/she/it reads |
| wij/we | lezen | we read |
| jullie | lezen | you read (plural) |
| zij/ze | lezen | they read |
- Past singular: las
- Past plural: lazen
- Past participle: gelezen
Ik lees graag romans. (I like reading novels.)
Zij las het bericht niet. (She didn’t read the message.)
Heb je de instructies gelezen? (Did you read the instructions?)
17) helpen — to help
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | help | I help |
| jij/je | helpt | you help |
| hij/zij/het | helpt | he/she/it helps |
| wij/we | helpen | we help |
| jullie | helpen | you help (plural) |
| zij/ze | helpen | they help |
- Past singular: hielp
- Past plural: hielpen
- Past participle: geholpen
Ik help je straks. (I’ll help you in a moment.)
Hij hielp zijn buurman. (He helped his neighbour.)
Ze heeft me echt geholpen. (She really helped me.)
18) denken — to think
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | denk | I think |
| jij/je | denkt | you think |
| hij/zij/het | denkt | he/she/it thinks |
| wij/we | denken | we think |
| jullie | denken | you think (plural) |
| zij/ze | denken | they think |
- Past singular: dacht
- Past plural: dachten
- Past participle: gedacht
Ik denk dat het klopt. (I think that it’s correct.)
We dachten aan jou. (We thought about you.)
Heb je daaraan gedacht? (Did you think about that?)
Pattern note: denken is especially important because it looks like a strong verb but uses the -cht past: dacht. Learn it as a special case.
Pro Tip: Don’t wait to “fully understand” the patterns before practising. First build familiarity with the high-frequency forms, then let the patterns organise what you already know.
Group 5: the must-know mixed set — doen and brengen
These two don’t fit neatly into the earlier vowel families, but they’re too common to leave out. They belong in any serious list of the most common Dutch irregular verbs.
19) doen — to do
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | doe | I do |
| jij/je | doet | you do |
| hij/zij/het | doet | he/she/it does |
| wij/we | doen | we do |
| jullie | doen | you do (plural) |
| zij/ze | doen | they do |
- Past singular: deed
- Past plural: deden
- Past participle: gedaan
Wat doe je? (What are you doing?)
Hij deed de deur open. (He opened the door.)
We hebben ons best gedaan. (We did our best.)
20) brengen — to bring
| Pronoun | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | breng | I bring |
| jij/je | brengt | you bring |
| hij/zij/het | brengt | he/she/it brings |
| wij/we | brengen | we bring |
| jullie | brengen | you bring (plural) |
| zij/ze | brengen | they bring |
- Past singular: bracht
- Past plural: brachten
- Past participle: gebracht
Ik breng koffie mee. (I’m bringing coffee.)
Hij bracht haar naar huis. (He brought her home.)
Wat heb je meegebracht? (What did you bring along?)
This is a classic “mixed” irregular verb: present stem breng-, past bracht, participle gebracht.
If you want to keep exploring related structures, our post on Dutch subordinate clauses pairs well with this one, because irregular verbs become much harder when word order shifts. The same goes for Dutch inversion and word order, especially if you know the verb form but still place it in the wrong slot.
Pro Tip: Mixed irregulars like denken, brengen, and doen deserve extra review because they don’t fit cleanly into one neat family.
How to memorise Dutch irregular verbs efficiently
A long list won’t save you. A smart system will.
Here’s the approach we recommend:
1. Learn in families, not alphabetically
Your brain remembers patterns better than isolated facts.
- zien → zag → gezien
- geven → gaf → gegeven
- nemen → nam → genomen
- spreken → sprak → gesproken
2. Drill the forms actively
Don’t just read ging. Cover it and produce it.
At VerbPal, this is exactly how we train verbs: prompt first, answer second. That active production matters much more than tapping a multiple-choice option.
3. Include the auxiliary every time
Don’t learn only gegaan. Learn zijn gegaan.
Don’t learn only gezien. Learn hebben gezien.
4. Put the verb into a sentence
A form sticks faster inside a real sentence:
Gisteren zag ik hem. (Yesterday I saw him.)
Omdat ik hem gisteren zag… (Because I saw him yesterday…)
That second example also forces you to handle Dutch word order — the real test of fluency. This is where Lexi’s Dutch focus matters most: Dutch sentences are a puzzle. In main clauses, the finite verb goes in slot 2. In subordinate clauses, the verb cluster moves to the end. If you know zag but can’t place it, you’re still stuck.
5. Review with spaced repetition
Cramming works for one afternoon. Spaced repetition works for months. Our drills use the SM-2 algorithm to bring back verbs right before you forget them, which is exactly what irregular verbs need.
Pro Tip: If you miss a form, say the entire chain aloud: infinitive, past, participle, auxiliary, example sentence.
Reading a list is useful, but fluency comes from retrieval. If you want to turn forms like ging, zag, was, and gedaan into quick reflexes, VerbPal drills them in short sessions with active recall, audio, and spaced repetition. You can also jump from this guide into our [Learn Dutch page](/learn/dutch), browse the [VerbPal blog](/blog), or check a specific verb in our [Dutch conjugation tables](/conjugations/dutch/).
FAQ: common questions about Dutch irregular verbs
Are all Dutch irregular verbs completely unpredictable?
No. Many are strong verbs with recurring vowel patterns. They feel irregular at first, but families like schrijven/schreef/geschreven and nemen/nam/genomen become much easier once you group them.
Which Dutch irregular verbs should I learn first?
Start with zijn, hebben, gaan, komen, zien, doen, geven, nemen, spreken, and vinden. These appear constantly in everyday Dutch.
Do I need to memorise both past tense and past participle?
Yes. You need the simple past for storytelling and the past participle for the perfect tense. For example, ik zag (I saw) and ik heb gezien (I have seen) do different jobs.
Why do some verbs use zijn in the perfect tense?
Movement and change-of-state verbs often take zijn. For example: ik ben gegaan (I have gone / I went), ik ben gekomen (I have come / I came), ik ben gebleven (I have stayed / I stayed). Most other verbs take hebben.
What’s the best way to practise Dutch irregular verbs?
Use active recall, short daily sessions, and spaced repetition. That’s exactly why we built VerbPal: to help adult learners produce forms like was, had, ging, zag, and gedaan at the moment they need them.
Pro Tip: Pick five verbs, say each full chain aloud, then build one main clause and one subordinate clause for each so you practise both form and word order.
If you want to go deeper next, visit Learn Dutch with VerbPal, browse the VerbPal blog, or check a specific verb in our Dutch conjugation tables.