Praten ("to talk, to chat") is a fully regular weak verb, yet it produces one of the spellings that most reliably trips learners up: the past tense praatte, with a double t. Nothing irregular is happening — the double t falls straight out of the rules — but you have to see why, or you will keep writing praate or prate. This page lays out the full paradigm, explains the double-t mechanism for every t-final stem, and draws the line between praten and its neighbour spreken.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Simple past (sg.) | Past participle | Perfect auxiliary |
|---|---|---|---|
| praten | praatte | gepraat | hebben |
Classification: weak (regular). The stem is praat — a closed syllable, so the vowel doubles (praat, not prat). The stem already ends in -t, which is a voiceless 't kofschip sound, so the past takes -te / -ten. Stem-final t + ending -te = praatte, the double t. Auxiliary hebben.
Present tense
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | praat | I talk |
| jij / je | praat | you talk |
| u | praat | you talk (formal) |
| hij / zij / het | praat | he / she / it talks |
| wij / we | praten | we talk |
| jullie | praten | you (pl.) talk |
| zij / ze | praten | they talk |
Here is the first quirk of a t-stem: in the present, ik praat and jij/hij praat are identical. The rule says "stem + t" for jij/u/hij, but the stem already ends in t, and Dutch never writes a double consonant at the end of a word. So praat + t = praat (one t, not praatt). All three singular persons look the same.
Praat je wat zachter? De kinderen slapen al.
Could you talk a bit more quietly? The kids are already asleep. Inverted 'je' (note: praat already ends in t, so nothing extra drops).
Simple past: praatte / praatten — the double t
This is the headline. The past rule is stem + -te(n). The stem is praat, which already ends in -t. You do not delete either t: you write both. So:
- praat (stem) + te = praatte (singular)
- praat (stem) + ten = praatten (plural)
The two t's sit on either side of the syllable break (praat-te), so unlike the word-final case, neither is absorbed. This is the genuinely counterintuitive part for English speakers, who never double a letter just because a stem and an ending happen to share it.
| Person | Past form |
|---|---|
| ik / jij / u / hij / zij / het | praatte |
| wij / jullie / zij (pl.) | praatten |
We praatten urenlang door over vroeger.
We talked on for hours about the old days. Plural weak past 'praatten' — double t.
Ze praatte zo snel dat ik haar nauwelijks kon volgen.
She talked so fast that I could barely follow her. Singular weak past 'praatte' — double t.
The perfect: heb gepraat
The participle is gepraat: ge- + stem praat + voiceless -t. But again the stem already ends in -t, and Dutch doesn't double word-finally — so praat + t = gepraat (one t, not gepraatt). Auxiliary hebben.
| Person | Perfect | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | heb gepraat | I have talked |
| jij / u | hebt gepraat | you have talked |
| hij / zij / het | heeft gepraat | he/she/it has talked |
| wij / jullie / zij | hebben gepraat | we/you/they have talked |
So the participle has one t (word-final, absorbed) but the simple past has two (mid-word, both kept). This asymmetry is the whole story of praten.
We hebben er nog niet over gepraat, maar dat komt nog.
We haven't talked about it yet, but we will. Perfect 'hebben ... gepraat' — single t in the participle.
Praten vs spreken
Both are "to talk/speak", but they pull in different directions:
- praten = to chat, to talk — informal, conversational, about the activity of talking. Lekker praten met vrienden.
- spreken = to speak — more formal, and the verb you use for speaking a language (Ik spreek Nederlands) and for speaking to / reaching someone (Kan ik mevrouw De Vries spreken?).
If you are gossiping over coffee, you praten. If you state which languages you command, you spreekt them. See the dedicated comparison page for the full four-way split.
We praatten de hele avond, maar over werk hebben we het niet gehad.
We chatted all evening, but we didn't talk about work. Casual 'praten'.
Imperative
| Form | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
| Praat! | bare stem, singular command | Talk! |
| Praat maar tegen mij. | reassuring | Go ahead and talk to me. |
| Praat niet met volle mond. | everyday instruction | Don't talk with your mouth full. |
Three model sentences
Hij praat te veel en luistert te weinig.
He talks too much and listens too little. Third-person singular 'praat'.
De buren praatten gisteren tot diep in de nacht op het balkon.
The neighbours were talking on the balcony late into the night yesterday. Plural weak past 'praatten'.
Heb je al met je baas over die opslag gepraat?
Have you talked to your boss about that raise yet? Perfect 'heb ... gepraat'.
Common Mistakes
❌ We praaten lang met elkaar.
Incorrect — the present plural is the infinitive 'praten' (one a in the open syllable), not 'praaten'.
✅ We praten lang met elkaar.
We talk to each other for a long time.
❌ Ze praate de hele tijd.
Incorrect — the t-stem keeps both t's in the past: 'praatte', not 'praate'.
✅ Ze praatte de hele tijd.
She talked the whole time.
❌ We hebben lang gepraatt.
Incorrect — the participle is word-final, so only one t: 'gepraat', not 'gepraatt'.
✅ We hebben lang gepraat.
We talked for a long time.
❌ Ik praat Nederlands.
Incorrect — for speaking a language use spreken: 'Ik spreek Nederlands'.
✅ Ik spreek Nederlands.
I speak Dutch.
❌ Hij praatt te veel.
Incorrect — word-final t isn't doubled in the present: 'hij praat', not 'praatt'.
✅ Hij praat te veel.
He talks too much.
Key Takeaways
- Praten is a regular weak verb with a t-final stem: present praat (all singular persons identical), plural praten.
- Past praatte / praatten — the double t comes from stem-final t meeting the ending -te(n), both kept mid-word.
- Participle gepraat — single t, because it's word-final and Dutch never doubles a consonant at the end of a word.
- Auxiliary hebben.
- praten = chat / talk (informal activity); spreken = speak (a language, or to reach someone).
Now practice Dutch
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- 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.
- Maken (to make) — Full ConjugationA1 — The complete paradigm of maken (to make): present (maak/maakt/maken), past (maakte/maakten), perfect (heb gemaakt), imperative, and participle — a model weak verb that shows the vowel-doubling spelling rule.
- Weak Past: The 't Kofschip Rule (-te vs -de)A2 — How to form the weak simple past in Dutch and how the 't kofschip rule decides between the endings -te(n) and -de(n) — applied to the underlying stem consonant, not the infinitive.
- Spreken, Praten, Zeggen, Vertellen: Four Speaking VerbsB1 — English leans on 'speak', 'talk', 'say' and 'tell', and Dutch has near-exact counterparts — but the boundaries differ. Spreken is to speak (formal; languages); praten is to talk/chat (informal); zeggen is to say (the actual words, or a dat-clause); vertellen is to tell/recount (a person and/or a story). This page gives the decision rule, head-to-head pairs, and the errors English speakers make most.
- The Regular Weak Verb: Full ParadigmA2 — The complete model paradigm of a regular Dutch weak verb (werken and maken) across every tense — present, simple past, present perfect, past perfect, future and conditional — plus the stem→present→past→participle pipeline and the 't kofschip rule that decides between -te and -de.