Brengen ("to bring") belongs to a small but high-frequency club of Dutch mixed verbs that form their past with -cht: brengen → bracht, exactly as English bring → brought. The two languages inherited the same Germanic stem change, so if you already feel that brought is irregular in a particular way, Dutch bracht will feel familiar. The verb is everyday vocabulary — you bring people places, bring objects to someone, and bring abstract things like luck — so its irregular past is worth locking in early.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Simple past (sg.) | Past participle | Perfect auxiliary |
|---|---|---|---|
| brengen | bracht | gebracht | hebben |
Classification: mixed. Brengen changes its stem vowel like a strong verb (e → a), but it forms its past with a dental -t (the -cht spelling) and takes a -t/-d-style participle ending — the hallmark of weak verbs. That combination of a vowel change plus a dental ending is precisely what makes a verb "mixed." The same -cht pattern shows up in denken/dacht, kopen/kocht, and zoeken/zocht.
Present tense
The present is completely regular: stem breng- plus the ordinary endings. Nothing irregular happens until the past.
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | breng | I bring |
| jij / je | brengt | you bring |
| u | brengt | you bring (formal) |
| hij / zij / het | brengt | he / she / it brings |
| wij / we | brengen | we bring |
| jullie | brengen | you (pl.) bring |
| zij / ze | brengen | they bring |
When jij follows the verb in a question or after inversion, the -t drops: breng jij? ("do you bring?"), just like every other verb.
Breng jij morgen de kinderen naar school?
Are you bringing the kids to school tomorrow? Inverted 'jij' — 'breng', not 'brengt'.
Simple past: bracht and brachten
Here is the irregular core. The vowel shifts e → a and the stem-final ng collapses into the -cht cluster: bracht (singular), brachten (plural). There is no -de and no doubled consonant — it is the -cht family's own pattern.
| Person | Past form |
|---|---|
| ik / jij / u / hij / zij / het | bracht |
| wij / jullie / zij (pl.) | brachten |
De postbode bracht een pakket dat ik niet had besteld.
The postman brought a package I hadn't ordered. Singular past 'bracht'.
Why "mixed" — and why it matters here
It's worth pausing on what brengen shares with English, because the parallel is not a coincidence. Both languages descend from a Germanic verb that already had this odd hybrid behaviour: a vowel change in the past (like a strong verb) but a -t added on top (like a weak verb). English froze it as bring → brought → brought; Dutch froze it as brengen → bracht → gebracht. Knowing this lets you generalise: the handful of Dutch verbs whose English cognates end in -ought or -aught in the past — brengen (brought), denken (thought), kopen (bought), zoeken (sought) — almost all behave the same way in Dutch, ending in -cht. Spot the English pattern and you can predict the Dutch form rather than memorising each one cold.
Crucially, this means you should resist two opposite temptations. The first is to treat brengen as fully strong and invent a participle like gebrongen (it doesn't exist). The second is to treat it as fully weak and say brengde or gebrengd (also wrong). It sits exactly in between: vowel change plus dental -t.
The perfect: heeft gebracht
The participle is gebracht — the same -cht stem as the past, now wrapped in the participle frame ge-…-t. The auxiliary is hebben, since brengen is a transitive verb (you bring something).
| Person | Perfect | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | heb gebracht | I have brought |
| jij / u | hebt gebracht | you have brought |
| hij / zij / het | heeft gebracht | he/she/it has brought |
| wij / jullie / zij | hebben gebracht | we/you/they have brought |
Imperative
The imperative is the bare stem breng, optionally brengt in very formal or old-fashioned written commands (now archaic in speech).
| Form | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
| Breng! | everyday (informal & neutral) | Bring! |
| Breng me even een glas water. | everyday phrase | Bring me a glass of water. |
| Brengt! | (archaic) formal written command | Bring! |
Three model sentences
These show brengen with a person being brought, an object delivered to someone, and the abstract "bring" of bringing luck — plus the participle in the perfect.
Zal ik je naar het station brengen?
Shall I take (bring) you to the station? 'brengen' with a destination — Dutch uses it where English often says 'take' or 'drop off'.
Ze heeft ons koffie en taart gebracht.
She brought us coffee and cake. Perfect with the participle 'gebracht'.
Dat klavertje vier bracht me geluk.
That four-leaf clover brought me luck. Abstract use; past 'bracht'.
Common collocations and separable cousins
Brengen anchors a large family of common expressions and separable compounds, all of which keep the same bracht / gebracht core. A few worth knowing: terugbrengen (to bring/take back, return something), wegbrengen (to take away, drop off), opbrengen (to yield, to bring in money), teweegbrengen (to bring about, cause). Because these are separable, the prefix splits off in main clauses — Ik breng het morgen terug — but rejoins in the participle, sliding ge- into the middle: Ik heb het teruggebracht.
There are also fixed idioms: in gevaar brengen (to endanger), op de hoogte brengen (to inform, "bring up to date"), tot leven brengen (to bring to life), and het ver brengen (to go far in life). None of these change the conjugation — they just show how far the verb's reach extends.
Ik moet de auto morgen naar de garage brengen.
I have to take the car to the garage tomorrow. Everyday 'brengen' with a destination.
Kun je me even op de hoogte brengen?
Could you bring me up to speed? Fixed idiom 'op de hoogte brengen'.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ik brengde het boek terug.
Incorrect — brengen is mixed; the past is 'bracht', never the regularised 'brengde'.
✅ Ik bracht het boek terug.
I brought the book back.
❌ Wij bracht de kinderen naar school.
Incorrect — the plural past is 'brachten', not 'bracht'.
✅ Wij brachten de kinderen naar school.
We took the children to school.
❌ Hij heeft het cadeau gebrengd.
Incorrect — the participle is 'gebracht' (the -cht stem), not 'gebrengd'.
✅ Hij heeft het cadeau gebracht.
He brought the present.
❌ Ik ben je naar huis gebracht.
Incorrect — brengen takes hebben, not zijn: 'Ik heb je naar huis gebracht.'
✅ Ik heb je naar huis gebracht.
I took you home.
Key Takeaways
- Present is regular: ik breng, jij/hij brengt, wij/jullie/zij brengen; inversion gives breng jij?
- Past is the irregular -cht pattern: singular bracht, plural brachten — like English brought.
- Participle gebracht, perfect auxiliary hebben: hij heeft gebracht.
- Never regularise to brengde or gebrengd. Use brengen for moving something toward a goal or person (where English often says take).
Now practice Dutch
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Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- Denken (to think) — Full ConjugationB1 — The complete paradigm of denken (to think): present (denk/denkt/denken), the -cht past (dacht/dachten), the perfect (heeft gedacht), imperative, and participle — plus the crucial denken aan vs denken over distinction.
- Kopen (to buy) — Full ConjugationA2 — The complete paradigm of kopen (to buy): present (koop/koopt/kopen), the -cht past (kocht/kochten), the perfect (heeft gekocht), imperative, and participle — a mixed verb that shifts like English buy/bought.
- Zoeken (to search) — Full ConjugationB1 — The complete paradigm of zoeken (to search, to look for): present (zoek/zoekt/zoeken), the -cht past (zocht/zochten), the perfect (heeft gezocht), imperative, and participle — a mixed verb that shifts like English seek/sought, plus the zoeken naar construction.
- Mixed and Irregular Past TensesB2 — The Dutch verbs that combine a vowel change with a dental ending (bracht, dacht, kocht, zocht) plus the fully irregular zijn, hebben, and the modals — anchored to the English brought/thought/bought set.
- Verb Reference: How to Use These TablesA2 — A guide to reading the verb-reference pages: what each conjugation table shows (present, simple past, perfect with its auxiliary, participle), how strong/weak/mixed verbs are labelled, why the auxiliary is flagged, and which verbs to master first.