Welcome to Dutch verbs, episode 10: doen, which means to do. In Dutch it is spelled:
d. o. e. n.
Doen is the all-purpose verb for doing or making something happen. Like English 'do', it appears constantly.
Present tense. Listen and repeat.
Ik doe. — I do.
Jij doet. — You do.
Hij doet. — He does.
Wij doen. — We do.
Jullie doen. — You all do.
Zij doen. — They do.
One more time, straight through.
Ik doe. Jij doet. Hij doet. Wij doen. Jullie doen. Zij doen. — Past tense: deed for singular, deden for plural.
Ik deed. Jij deed. Hij deed. — I did, you did, he did.
Wij deden. Jullie deden. Zij deden. — We did, you all did, they did.
Future is zullen plus doen.
Ik zal doen. Jij zult doen. Hij zal doen. — Usually replaced with the present plus a time word.
Now three example sentences.
Wat doe je?
What are you doing? The most common conversational opener after hi.
Ik doe boodschappen. — I'm doing groceries.
Doen plus a noun - the standard way to talk about errands.
Hij deed niks. — He did nothing.
Past tense.
That is episode 10. The verb doen, meaning to do. Forms to remember: doe, doet, doen, deed, deden.
Today's Brueghel proverb.
Het ene gat met het andere stoppen.
Het ene gat met het andere stoppen. — Literally: to plug one hole with the other.
Meaning: to solve one problem by creating another - rob Peter to pay Paul. Example:
Met een tweede creditcard de eerste afbetalen is het ene gat met het andere stoppen.
Paying off one credit card with another is robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Prettige dag verder!
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