Dutch verbs are usually sorted into two clean piles: weak (regular -te/-de past, -t/-d participle) and strong (vowel-changing past, -en participle). These three verbs refuse to sit in either pile cleanly. Durven ("to dare") has a weak past durfde but a participle, gedurfd, that learners constantly misanalyse — and it preserves an archaic strong past dorst that you'll still meet in older texts. Bewegen ("to move") is genuinely strong (bewoog → bewogen), but its inseparable prefix be- deletes the ge- you'd expect on the participle. And scheiden ("to separate / divorce / part") is the textbook mixed verb: it forms a weak past, scheidde, yet a fully strong participle, gescheiden. This page lays out all three paradigms and explains exactly where each one breaks the rule.
Durven — "to dare" (mixed; archaic dorst)
Durven is a modal-flavoured verb: it usually governs a bare infinitive (ik durf niet te vragen — "I don't dare ask"). In modern Dutch it conjugates weak: past durfde / durfden, participle gedurfd. The participle looks strong at a glance because of the ge-...-d frame, but it is just the ordinary weak participle of a stem ending in f. The genuinely irregular part is the archaic strong past dorst / dorsten, which survives in literary and set-phrase use ("hij dorst het niet te zeggen") and which you should recognise but no longer produce. Auxiliary: hebben.
Principal parts: durven · durfde / durfden (archaic dorst / dorsten) · gedurfd · aux hebben.
| Person | Present | Past (modern) | Past (archaic) | Perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ik | durf | durfde | dorst | heb gedurfd |
| jij / je | durft | durfde | dorst | hebt gedurfd |
| u | durft | durfde | dorst | hebt gedurfd |
| hij / zij / het | durft | durfde | dorst | heeft gedurfd |
| wij / we | durven | durfden | dorsten | hebben gedurfd |
| jullie | durven | durfden | dorsten | hebben gedurfd |
| zij / ze | durven | durfden | dorsten | hebben gedurfd |
English has no exact parallel: "dare" in English is itself a half-modal ("I daren't ask" / "I don't dare to ask"), and Dutch durven behaves similarly — it often takes a te-infinitive but can drop the te in casual speech (ik durf het niet vragen). Note that the present stem is durf with an f (the v of the infinitive devoices word-finally), so the past is built on that: durf-de.
Ik durf niet te kijken — hoe is het afgelopen?
I don't dare look — how did it turn out? Present 'durf' + te-infinitive.
Niemand durfde de baas tegen te spreken.
Nobody dared contradict the boss. Modern weak past 'durfde'.
Hij heeft het uiteindelijk toch gedurfd.
In the end he dared to do it after all. Perfect 'heeft gedurfd'.
Bewegen — "to move" (strong; no ge- after be-)
Bewegen is a fully strong verb of the e–oo–o type: present beweeg, past bewoog / bewogen, participle bewogen. The trap is purely orthographic. Because be- is an unstressed inseparable prefix, the participle takes no ge-: it is bewogen, never gebewogen. The ge- slot is already filled by the prefix. Auxiliary: hebben.
Principal parts: bewegen · bewoog / bewogen · bewogen · aux hebben.
| Person | Present | Past | Perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| ik | beweeg | bewoog | heb bewogen |
| jij / je / u | beweegt | bewoog | hebt bewogen |
| hij / zij / het | beweegt | bewoog | heeft bewogen |
| wij / jullie / zij | bewegen | bewogen | hebben bewogen |
Watch a quirk of the paradigm: the past plural bewogen and the participle bewogen are spelled identically — only the surrounding structure (an auxiliary hebben/heeft signals the participle) tells them apart. Bewegen is frequently reflexive — zich bewegen means "to move about, to get around" — and it has a vivid figurative life: bewogen as an adjective means "moved, stirred, eventful" (een bewogen jaar — "an eventful year"; een bewogen toespraak — "a moving speech").
Beweeg je niet, anders mislukt de foto.
Don't move, or the photo will be ruined. Imperative 'beweeg', reflexive.
De gewonde bewoog zich nauwelijks nog.
The injured man barely moved anymore. Past 'bewoog', reflexive.
Het verhaal heeft iedereen in de zaal bewogen.
The story moved everyone in the room. Participle 'bewogen' — no ge-, figurative.
The missing ge- is not special to bewegen; it is the blanket rule for every unstressed inseparable prefix — be-, ge-, ver-, ont-, her-, er-: vertellen → verteld, ontdekken → ontdekt, herhalen → herhaald, bewegen → bewogen.
Scheiden — the showcase mixed verb
Scheiden is the verb every Dutch grammar reaches for to define a mixed verb, because it combines the two systems in a single word: a weak past scheidde / scheidden (with the dental -de suffix doubling against the stem-final d), but a strong participle gescheiden (the -en ending of strong verbs, with no vowel change). It does not follow the weak pattern all the way (that would give the non-existent gescheidd), nor the strong pattern (no scheed past). It splits the difference.
Principal parts: scheiden · scheidde / scheidden · gescheiden · aux hebben (transitive) / zijn (intransitive "to part").
| Person | Present | Past | Perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| ik | scheid | scheidde | heb gescheiden |
| jij / je | scheidt | scheidde | hebt gescheiden |
| u | scheidt | scheidde | hebt gescheiden |
| hij / zij / het | scheidt | scheidde | heeft gescheiden |
| wij / jullie / zij | scheiden | scheidden | hebben gescheiden |
Two spelling points. First, the present singular jij/hij scheidt keeps the stem d and adds t — both letters are written even though you only hear one t. Second, the past scheidde has the stem d plus the weak -de: scheid + de = scheidde, with a visible double d; the plural is scheidden. This doubling is exactly what makes the verb feel irregular to English speakers, who have no analogue for spelling a sound you don't separately pronounce.
The auxiliary alternates with meaning. Transitive scheiden ("to separate something, to divorce someone") takes hebben: de scheidsrechter heeft de spelers gescheiden ("the referee separated the players"). Intransitive scheiden meaning "to part, to go separate ways" takes zijn: hier zijn onze wegen gescheiden ("here our paths parted"). For divorce specifically, modern Dutch overwhelmingly says ze zijn gescheiden ("they got divorced," result state) — so the zijn version dominates the everyday divorce sense.
Scheid het eiwit voorzichtig van de dooier.
Carefully separate the egg white from the yolk. Imperative 'scheid', transitive.
De rivier scheidde de twee dorpen al eeuwenlang.
The river had separated the two villages for centuries. Weak past 'scheidde'.
Mijn ouders zijn vorig jaar gescheiden.
My parents got divorced last year. Perfect with 'zijn' — the everyday divorce sense.
De politie heeft de twee vechtende mannen gescheiden.
The police separated the two fighting men. Transitive, perfect with 'hebben'.
How the three differ at a glance
| Verb | Past | Participle | Type | The trap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| durven | durfde (arch. dorst) | gedurfd | weak (+ archaic strong past) | using dorst in modern speech |
| bewegen | bewoog / bewogen | bewogen | strong | adding a wrong ge- (→ gebewogen) |
| scheiden | scheidde / scheidden | gescheiden | mixed | weak participle gescheidd |
Common Mistakes
❌ Mijn ouders zijn vorig jaar gescheidd.
Incorrect — scheiden has a STRONG participle: 'gescheiden', never the weak 'gescheidd'.
✅ Mijn ouders zijn vorig jaar gescheiden.
My parents got divorced last year.
❌ De rivier scheidede de twee dorpen.
Incorrect — the past is 'scheidde' (stem-d + de), not 'scheidede'.
✅ De rivier scheidde de twee dorpen.
The river separated the two villages.
❌ Het verhaal heeft iedereen gebewogen.
Incorrect — inseparable be- means NO ge-: the participle is 'bewogen'.
✅ Het verhaal heeft iedereen bewogen.
The story moved everyone.
❌ Ik durfte het niet te vragen.
Incorrect — the stem is durf (f), so the past is 'durfde', not 'durfte'.
✅ Ik durfde het niet te vragen.
I didn't dare to ask.
❌ Niemand dorst de baas tegen te spreken.
Understood, but archaic — modern Dutch uses 'durfde'; 'dorst' now reads as old-fashioned.
✅ Niemand durfde de baas tegen te spreken.
Nobody dared contradict the boss.
Key Takeaways
- durven (durfde / gedurfd, hebben) = "to dare"; weak today, with an archaic strong past dorst you should recognise but not use.
- bewegen (bewoog / bewogen → bewogen, hebben) = "to move"; strong, but the inseparable be- deletes ge- from the participle.
- scheiden (scheidde / scheidden → gescheiden) = the model mixed verb: weak past, strong participle; hebben when transitive, zijn for "to part" and the everyday divorce sense.
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