Drinken ("to drink") is a strong verb of the i–o–o type: present drink, past dronk/dronken, participle gedronken. English speakers should recognise the family instantly — drink → drank → drunk — though note that English splits the past (drank) from the participle (drunk), while Dutch uses the same vowel o for both the past and the participle (dronk … gedronken). The whole class behaves this way: zingen → zong/gezongen, beginnen → begon/begonnen, vinden → vond/gevonden. Master one i–o–o verb and you've cracked a dozen. This page covers every form of drinken.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Past (sg.) | Past (pl.) | Past participle | Perfect auxiliary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| drinken | dronk | dronken | gedronken | hebben |
Classification: strong (class 3, i–o–o, the nasal-cluster subgroup). The vowel runs i → o → o: present drink, past dronk/dronken, participle gedronken. A weak verb would give drinkte / gedrinkt — those do not exist.
Present tense
The stem is drink- (short i, kept throughout the present).
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | drink | I drink |
| jij / je | drinkt | you drink |
| u | drinkt | you drink (formal) |
| hij / zij / het | drinkt | he / she / it drinks |
| wij / we | drinken | we drink |
| jullie | drinken | you (pl.) drink |
| zij / ze | drinken | they drink |
When je / jij follows the verb, the -t drops: drink je?, never drinkt je. The present is fully regular: stem drink for ik, stem + -t for jij/u/hij, the infinitive drinken for all plurals.
Drink je koffie of thee bij het ontbijt?
Do you drink coffee or tea with breakfast? Present, inverted 'drink je' (no -t).
Simple past: dronk / dronken
The strong past splits by number, and the split here is the familiar short o (closed) / long o (open) pattern — though both are spelled with the same single o before nk / nken:
| Person | Past form | Vowel | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| ik / jij / u / hij / zij / het | dronk | short o | closed syllable |
| wij / jullie / zij (pl.) | dronken | short o | open syllable: dron·ken |
Unlike at/aten, the nk/ng verbs keep the vowel short in both numbers — the consonant cluster closes the syllable in dronk and the doubled-feeling nk keeps it short in dron·ken too. So the only difference between singular and plural is the -en ending: dronk versus dronken. The vowel itself does not lengthen, which makes this class easier than eten or lezen.
Op het feest dronk ik alleen maar water; ik moest nog rijden.
At the party I only drank water; I still had to drive. Singular past 'dronk'.
Vroeger dronken we elke zondag koffie bij oma.
We used to have coffee at Grandma's every Sunday. Plural past 'dronken'.
The perfect: hebben + gedronken
Drinken takes hebben. The participle is gedronken — same o as the past, plus the strong -en ending.
| Person | Perfect | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | heb gedronken | I have drunk |
| jij / u | hebt gedronken | you have drunk |
| hij / zij / het | heeft gedronken | he/she/it has drunk |
| wij / jullie / zij | hebben gedronken | we/you/they have drunk |
Why the past is "o" and not "a": the i–o–o family
It helps to see drinken not as an isolated irregular verb but as a member of a large, tight-knit family. In a whole set of verbs whose stem ends in a nasal + consonant (-nk, -ng, -nd, -nn), the present i becomes o in both the past and the participle. Once you recognise the pattern, you can conjugate verbs you've never formally studied:
| Infinitive | Past (sg./pl.) | Participle | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| drinken | dronk / dronken | gedronken | to drink |
| zingen | zong / zongen | gezongen | to sing |
| vinden | vond / vonden | gevonden | to find |
| beginnen | begon / begonnen | begonnen | to begin |
English preserves a faded version of this same Germanic ablaut — sing/sang/sung, ring/rang/rung, drink/drank/drunk — but English kept the a in the past where Dutch generalised the o. That single difference (Dutch o everywhere, English a in the past) is the one fact to hold onto.
We zongen en dronken tot diep in de nacht op het festival.
We sang and drank deep into the night at the festival. Two i–o–o verbs side by side: zongen, dronken.
Imperative
The imperative is the bare stem drink.
| Form | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
| Drink! | singular / general | Drink! |
| Drink je glas eens leeg. | everyday phrase | Finish your drink. (lit. "drink your glass empty") |
| Drinkt u rustig uw thee op. | formal (with 'u') | Do finish your tea at your leisure. (formal) |
Three model sentences
Heb je vandaag wel genoeg water gedronken?
Have you drunk enough water today? Perfect with hebben + 'gedronken'.
We drinken 's avonds graag een glaasje wijn bij het eten.
In the evening we like to have a glass of wine with dinner. Present plural 'drinken'.
Hij dronk zijn biertje in één keer leeg en bestelde meteen een nieuwe.
He drank his beer in one go and ordered another right away. Singular past 'dronk'.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ik drinkte gisteren te veel koffie.
Incorrect — drinken is strong, so the past is 'dronk', not a regularised 'drinkte'.
✅ Ik dronk gisteren te veel koffie.
I drank too much coffee yesterday.
❌ Ik heb een biertje gedrinkt.
Incorrect — the participle is the strong 'gedronken', never 'gedrinkt'.
✅ Ik heb een biertje gedronken.
I had a beer.
❌ Wij dronk thee op het terras.
Incorrect — the plural is 'dronken', not the singular 'dronk'.
✅ Wij dronken thee op het terras.
We drank tea on the terrace.
❌ Ik drank een kopje koffie.
Incorrect — Dutch has no 'drank'; the past is 'dronk' (don't import English drink/drank).
✅ Ik dronk een kopje koffie.
I drank a cup of coffee.
❌ Drinkt je weleens alcohol?
Incorrect — when 'je' follows the verb, the -t drops: 'Drink je weleens alcohol?'
✅ Drink je weleens alcohol?
Do you ever drink alcohol?
Key Takeaways
- Strong verb: drink → dronk / dronken → gedronken; never drinkte or gedrinkt.
- i–o–o class: the same pattern as zingen, beginnen, vinden — one o for both past and participle.
- No "drank": unlike English, Dutch uses o throughout the past — dronk, not drank.
- Short vowel in both numbers: dronk and dronken both keep the short o; only the ending differs.
- Perfect with hebben: ik heb gedronken — no motion, so no zijn.
Now practice Dutch
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