Welcome to Dutch verbs, episode one. The most important verb in the language: 'to be'. In Dutch it is spelled:
z. i. j. n.
Zijn.
Zijn.
Zijn.
Notice the long 'ay' sound from the 'i j' digraph - that's two letters working together to make one sound. And notice the soft 'n' at the end. Now the present tense. A pronoun is a word like I, you, he, we. Dutch uses six: ik, jij, hij or zij, wij, jullie, and zij for they.
The present tense forms of zijn are completely irregular - meaning you can't predict them from the infinitive, you just memorize them. Listen and repeat.
Ik ben. — I am.
Jij bent. — You are.
Hij is. — He is.
Wij zijn. — We are.
Jullie zijn. — You all are.
Zij zijn. — They are.
One more time, straight through.
Ik ben. Jij bent. Hij is. Wij zijn. Jullie zijn. Zij zijn.
Now the past tense. Also irregular, but simpler. There are only two forms. 'Was' for the singular pronouns - ik, jij, hij. And 'waren' for the plural pronouns - wij, jullie, zij.
Ik was. Jij was. Hij was. — I was, you were, he was.
Now the plural.
Wij waren. Jullie waren. Zij waren. — We were, you all were, they were.
Singular was, plural waren. That's it for past tense.
Now the future. Dutch builds the future tense by combining the verb 'zullen' - that's the equivalent of 'will' - with the infinitive of the main verb. The infinitive is the unconjugated dictionary form. The infinitive of 'to be' is 'zijn', so 'I will be' becomes 'ik zal zijn'.
Ik zal zijn. Jij zult zijn. Hij zal zijn. Wij zullen zijn. Jullie zullen zijn. Zij zullen zijn.
In practice, Dutch speakers often skip the future construction. They use the present tense plus a time word. For example, instead of saying 'I will be home tomorrow', they say 'tomorrow I am home'.
Morgen ben ik thuis. — Literally: tomorrow am I home.
Word order shifts because the time word comes first. We'll cover that pattern in another episode. Now three example sentences. Listen, then the translation.
Ik ben Nederlands aan het leren. — I am learning Dutch.
The construction 'aan het' plus infinitive expresses an action in progress, like the English 'I am doing something'.
Hij is in Amsterdam. — He is in Amsterdam.
Notice 'hij is', not 'hij bent'. Match the form to the pronoun.
Wij waren gisteren bij vrienden. — We were at friends yesterday.
Past tense plural, so 'waren'. The word 'bij' means 'at the home of' in this context.
That is episode one. The verb 'zijn'. Forms to remember: ben, bent, is, zijn, was, waren. Next episode, the verb 'hebben', to have.
Today's Brueghel proverb.
Twee honden aan één been.
Twee honden aan één been. — Literally: two dogs on one bone.
Meaning: two parties fighting over the same thing - there's only enough for one, so there will be conflict. Example:
Met die twee bazen is het altijd twee honden aan één been. — With those two bosses, it's always two dogs on one bone.
Fijne dag nog!
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