Welcome to Dutch verbs, episode 3: worden, which means to become. In Dutch it is spelled:
w. o. r. d. e. n. — Worden is one verb doing two jobs.
First, the literal meaning: to become, to turn into. Second, it builds the passive voice - the equivalent of English 'is being done'.
Present tense. Listen and repeat.
Ik word. — I become.
Jij wordt. — You become.
Hij wordt. — He becomes.
Wij worden. — We become.
Jullie worden. — You all become.
Zij worden. — They become.
One more time, straight through.
Ik word. Jij wordt. Hij wordt. Wij worden. Jullie worden. Zij worden. — Past tense: werd for singular, werden for plural.
Ik werd. Jij werd. Hij werd. — I became, you became, he became.
Wij werden. Jullie werden. Zij werden. — We became, you all became, they became.
Future is built with zullen plus worden.
Ik zal worden. Jij zult worden. Hij zal worden.
As with the other verbs, Dutch usually drops the future construction and uses the present tense plus a time word.
Now three example sentences.
Ik word moe. — I am getting tired.
Literally: I become tired. Dutch uses worden where English uses 'getting'.
Hij wordt arts. — He is becoming a doctor.
Het werd donker. — It got dark.
Past tense singular.
That is episode 3. The verb worden, meaning to become. Forms to remember: word, wordt, worden, werd, werden.
Today's Brueghel proverb.
De grootste vissen springen uit het net.
De grootste vissen springen uit het net. — Literally: the biggest fish jump out of the net.
Meaning: the powerful escape the rules that bind everyone else. Example:
De directeur kwam ermee weg - de grootste vissen springen uit het net.
The CEO got away with it - the biggest fish jump out of the net.
Doei doei!
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