The Regular Weak Verb: Full Paradigm | Dutch Grammar

The regular weak verb is the workhorse of Dutch: the great majority of verbs follow this single, fully predictable pattern, so mastering it once means you never have to look those verbs up again. This page is the model paradigm. We use two clean examples — werken ("to work," which takes the -te past) and maken ("to make," which also takes -te but shows the vowel-doubling spelling) — and run them through every tense: present, simple past, present perfect, past perfect, future, and conditional. The engine behind all of it is one pipeline: stem → present → past → participle, with the 't kofschip rule deciding whether the past ending is -te or -de. Learn this page and you've learned hundreds of verbs at once.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Past (sg.)	Past (pl.)	Past participle	Auxiliary
werken	werkte	werkten	gewerkt	hebben
maken	maakte	maakten	gemaakt	hebben

Classification: weak (regular). A weak verb keeps the same stem vowel throughout — no ablaut. The past is stem + -te/-de, and the participle is ge- + stem + -t/-d. Both werken and maken end in voiceless consonants (k), so both take -te and -t.

The pipeline: stem → present → past → participle

Every weak verb is built from one thing — its stem — by four mechanical steps. Get the stem right and the rest is automatic.

Step	Rule	werken	maken
Stem	infinitive minus -en (re-spell vowel if needed)	werk	maak
Present	stem (ik); stem + -t (jij/hij); stem + -en (plural)	werk / werkt / werken	maak / maakt / maken
Past	stem + -te(n) or -de(n)	werkte(n)	maakte(n)
Participle	ge- + stem + -t or -d	gewerkt	gemaakt

Notice the vowel-doubling in maken. The infinitive ma·ken has an open first syllable, so the a is long with a single letter. When you strip -en to get the stem, the syllable closes — and a closed syllable needs two letters to keep the vowel long. So the stem is maak, not mak. This spelling adjustment ripples through every form: maakt, maakte, gemaakt. Werken needs no such change because its vowel is already short and closed (werk).

Ik werk sinds vorig jaar bij een klein bureau in de stad.

I've worked at a small agency in the city since last year. — present 'werk', bare stem.

Ze maakt 's ochtends altijd verse koffie voor iedereen.

She always makes fresh coffee for everyone in the morning. — 'maakt' shows the doubled-a stem 'maak' + -t.

The 't kofschip rule: -te or -de?

The one genuine decision a weak verb forces is whether the past ends in -te or -de (and the participle in -t or -d). The answer depends entirely on the last sound of the stem.

The mnemonic is 't kofschip (an old Dutch sailing word). Its consonants — t, k, f, s, ch, p — are the voiceless ones. If the stem ends in one of these sounds, use -te / -t. Otherwise, use -de / -d.

Stem ends in...	Ending	Verb	Past	Participle
k (in 't kofschip)	-te / -t	werken	werkte	gewerkt
k (in 't kofschip)	-te / -t	maken	maakte	gemaakt
s (in 't kofschip)	-te / -t	fietsen	fietste	gefietst
n (not in it)	-de / -d	wonen	woonde	gewoond
r (not in it)	-de / -d	leren	leerde	geleerd

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The trap is the sound, not the letter. A stem written with a final v or z is pronounced — and treated — as voiced, so it takes -de: leven → stem leef but past leefde (think of the underlying v); reizen → stem reis but past reisde (underlying z). Always ask what the infinitive's consonant really is before spelling it bare.

We woonden vroeger in een klein dorpje vlak bij de grens.

We used to live in a little village right near the border. — 'woonden': voiced -n, so -de.

Ik leerde Nederlands toen ik naar Utrecht verhuisde.

I learned Dutch when I moved to Utrecht. — 'leerde' and 'verhuisde', both -de verbs.

The full paradigm — werken

Here is werken across every tense English speakers need. The simple tenses use the verb's own forms; the compound tenses stack an auxiliary (hebben, zullen, or zou) onto the participle or infinitive.

Tense	ik	jij / hij	wij / jullie / zij
Present	werk	werkt	werken
Simple past	werkte	werkte	werkten
Present perfect	heb gewerkt	hebt / heeft gewerkt	hebben gewerkt
Past perfect	had gewerkt	had gewerkt	hadden gewerkt
Future	zal werken	zult / zal werken	zullen werken
Conditional	zou werken	zou werken	zouden werken

Two things to read off this table. First, the simple past singular is invariant: ik werkte, jij werkte, hij werkte are all identical — Dutch does not mark person in the past singular. Only the plural differs, adding -n (werkten). Second, the compound tenses are modular: pick your auxiliary (hebben for the perfect, zullen for the future, zou for the conditional) and slot in the participle or infinitive. Once you can conjugate the four auxiliaries hebben, hadden, zullen, zou, you can build every compound tense of every verb.

Tegen die tijd had ik al twaalf uur gewerkt.

By that point I'd already worked twelve hours. — past perfect 'had gewerkt'.

Volgend jaar zal ik waarschijnlijk in het buitenland werken.

Next year I'll probably work abroad. — future 'zal werken'.

Met een beetje meer tijd zou ik dat probleem zelf oplossen.

With a bit more time I'd solve that problem myself. — conditional 'zou ... oplossen'.

The full paradigm — maken

The same six tenses for maken, so you can see the vowel-doubling carry through and confirm the pattern is identical:

Tense	ik	jij / hij	wij / jullie / zij
Present	maak	maakt	maken
Simple past	maakte	maakte	maakten
Present perfect	heb gemaakt	hebt / heeft gemaakt	hebben gemaakt
Past perfect	had gemaakt	had gemaakt	hadden gemaakt
Future	zal maken	zult / zal maken	zullen maken
Conditional	zou maken	zou maken	zouden maken

Heb je die foto's zelf gemaakt? Ze zijn prachtig.

Did you take those photos yourself? They're gorgeous. — present perfect 'heb gemaakt'.

How weak differs from English

English has weak verbs too — "work → worked → worked," "make → made" (well, made is strong-ish). The key difference is that Dutch splits the dental suffix into two spellings (-te vs -de) governed by voicing, where English uses one written -ed for all of them (the pronunciation varies — "worked" /t/ vs "lived" /d/ — but the spelling doesn't). So an English speaker has to do consciously what English does silently: decide voiced or voiceless, then write -te or -de. The second difference is the ge- prefix on the participle (gewerkt, gemaakt), which English lost long ago — your instinct will be to omit it, and you must add it back.

Wat heb je dit weekend gemaakt voor het feest?

What did you make this weekend for the party? — note the ge- prefix English doesn't have.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ik werkde gisteren de hele dag.

Incorrect — werken ends in voiceless -k ('t kofschip), so it's -te: 'werkte'.

✅ Ik werkte gisteren de hele dag.

I worked all day yesterday.

❌ We woonten tien jaar in Amsterdam.

Incorrect — wonen ends in voiced -n, so it takes -de: 'woonden'.

✅ We woonden tien jaar in Amsterdam.

We lived in Amsterdam for ten years.

❌ Ik heb een grote fout maakt.

Incorrect — the participle needs the ge- prefix: 'gemaakt'.

✅ Ik heb een grote fout gemaakt.

I made a big mistake.

❌ Hij leerte snel Nederlands.

Incorrect — leren ends in voiced -r, so it's -de: 'leerde'.

✅ Hij leerde snel Nederlands.

He learned Dutch quickly.

❌ Ik mak elke dag een lijstje.

Incorrect — the stem of maken doubles the vowel in a closed syllable: 'maak'.

✅ Ik maak elke dag een lijstje.

I make a little list every day.

Key Takeaways

Weak = predictable: stem keeps its vowel; past is stem + -te/-de, participle is ge- + stem + -t/-d.
The pipeline is stem → present → past → participle; get the stem right (watch vowel-doubling, as in maak) and everything follows.
't kofschip decides the ending by the stem's final sound: voiceless (t, k, f, s, ch, p) → -te/-t; everything else → -de/-d. Beware underlying v/z (leefde, reisde).
The simple past singular is invariant (ik/jij/hij werkte); only the plural adds -n.
Compound tenses are modular: auxiliary (hebben / zullen / zou) + participle or infinitive builds perfect, future, and conditional from the same parts.

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