These four verbs — bellen (to call/phone), spelen (to play), kosten (to cost), and wonen (to live/reside) — are among the first you will ever need in Dutch, and all four are regular weak verbs. That means none of them changes its vowel; each just bolts a dental ending (-de/-te, -d/-t) onto a fixed stem. Once you see them together, the whole weak system clicks into place — and so do the two spelling traps that catch nearly every English-speaking beginner: doubling the vowel to keep it long, and the double-t in kostte. English doesn't double letters to mark vowel length the way Dutch does, so this is the single most common source of beginner spelling errors.
How weak verbs choose -de or -te: 't kofschip
Every weak verb forms its past and participle from the last sound of the stem:
- Stem ends in a voiceless consonant — one of the sounds in the mnemonic 't kofschip (t, k, f, s, ch, p) → add -te / -ten in the past and -t on the participle.
- Otherwise (voiced consonants and all vowels) → add -de / -den and -d.
Of our four verbs, only kosten has a stem ending in a 't kofschip sound (kost ends in -t), so only kosten takes -te. The other three — bel, speel, woon — all end in voiced sounds, so they take -de.
Principal parts at a glance
| Infinitive | Stem | Past (sg.) | Participle | Auxiliary | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bellen | bel | belde | gebeld | hebben | weak |
| spelen | speel | speelde | gespeeld | hebben | weak |
| kosten | kost | kostte | gekost | hebben | weak (t-stem) |
| wonen | woon | woonde | gewoond | hebben | weak |
Bellen — to call / to phone
The stem is bel (with a short e and a single l); the infinitive bellen doubles the l purely to keep that e short in the open syllable. Because bel ends in voiced -l, the past is belde / belden and the participle is gebeld. Bellen means specifically "to phone someone"; for "to call out" or "to name," Dutch uses other verbs (roepen, noemen).
| Tense | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Present | ik bel · jij belt · hij belt | wij/jullie/zij bellen |
| Past | belde | belden |
| Perfect | heb/hebt/heeft gebeld | hebben gebeld |
Ik bel je morgenochtend wel even, goed?
I'll give you a quick call tomorrow morning, okay? Present 'bel'.
Mijn moeder belde gisteren drie keer achter elkaar.
My mother called three times in a row yesterday. Weak past 'belde' (-de after voiced -l).
Spelen — to play
The stem is speel. Here is the first big trap: the infinitive is spelen with one e in the middle, but the stem doubles it to speel so the long [eː] sound is preserved in a closed syllable. In Dutch, a single vowel in a closed syllable is read short, so spel would rhyme with the start of "spell"; speel keeps the long sound. The stem ends in voiced -l, so the past is speelde / speelden and the participle gespeeld.
| Tense | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Present | ik speel · jij speelt · hij speelt | wij/jullie/zij spelen |
| Past | speelde | speelden |
| Perfect | heb/hebt/heeft gespeeld | hebben gespeeld |
De kinderen spelen buiten zolang het droog blijft.
The kids play outside as long as it stays dry. Plural present 'spelen'.
Vroeger speelde ik in een bandje, maar dat is lang geleden.
I used to play in a little band, but that's a long time ago. Weak past 'speelde'.
Kosten — to cost
The stem is kost, ending in -t, a 't kofschip sound — so kosten takes -te. But the stem already ends in t, and you still add the -te ending, which gives the notorious double-t form: kostte / kostten. You do not drop one t: the stem's t and the ending's t are both written. The participle is gekost — here the stem-final t and the ending's t collapse into one, because Dutch never writes three of the same letter and the participle ending is a single -t.
| Tense | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Present | (het) kost | (de dingen) kosten |
| Past | kostte | kostten |
| Perfect | heeft gekost | hebben gekost |
Kosten is used mostly in the third person (things cost money), so you will see kost / kosten / kostte far more than the other forms.
Hoeveel kost zo'n kaartje tegenwoordig?
How much does a ticket like that cost these days? Third-person present 'kost'.
De reparatie kostte uiteindelijk meer dan de fiets zelf.
The repair ended up costing more than the bike itself. Past 'kostte' with the double t.
Wonen — to live (reside)
The stem is woon (doubled vowel again: wonen → woon). It ends in voiced -n, so the past is woonde / woonden and the participle gewoond. Wonen means "to reside, to have your home somewhere" — it is not "to live" in the sense of "to be alive" (that's leven). You live in a city and op a street: Ik woon in Utrecht, op de Oudegracht.
| Tense | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Present | ik woon · jij woont · hij woont | wij/jullie/zij wonen |
| Past | woonde | woonden |
| Perfect | heb/hebt/heeft gewoond | hebben gewoond |
Wij wonen sinds vorig jaar in een appartement aan de rand van de stad.
We've been living in an apartment on the edge of town since last year. Plural present 'wonen'.
Hij heeft jarenlang in het buitenland gewoond.
He lived abroad for years. Perfect 'heeft ... gewoond'.
Common Mistakes
❌ De kinderen spellen in de tuin.
Incorrect — the stem is 'speel' with two e's, not 'spel'; the plural is 'spelen'.
✅ De kinderen spelen in de tuin.
The kids are playing in the garden.
❌ Het kostte mij niets — ik schrijf 'koste'.
Incorrect — the past of kosten keeps both t's: 'kostte', not 'koste'.
✅ Het kostte mij niets.
It cost me nothing.
❌ Ik heb haar gisteren gebelt.
Incorrect — bel ends in voiced -l, so the participle is 'gebeld' with -d, not -t.
✅ Ik heb haar gisteren gebeld.
I called her yesterday.
❌ Wij wonen vroeger in Den Haag.
Incorrect — 'vroeger' (formerly) needs the past tense: 'Wij woonden vroeger in Den Haag'.
✅ Wij woonden vroeger in Den Haag.
We used to live in The Hague.
❌ Hoeveel kosten dit boek?
Incorrect — a singular subject ('dit boek') takes the singular 'kost', not the plural 'kosten'.
✅ Hoeveel kost dit boek?
How much does this book cost?
Key Takeaways
- All four are regular weak verbs: fixed stem plus dental endings, no vowel change in the conjugation itself.
- bellen, spelen, wonen take -de/-d (voiced stems); kosten takes -te because kost ends in voiceless -t.
- The vowel doubles to stay long in the stem: spelen → speel, wonen → woon. This is spelling, not a sound change.
- kosten gives the double-t past kostte / kostten, but a single-t participle gekost.
- Auxiliary is hebben for all four.
Now practice Dutch
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