Trekken ("to pull, draw, migrate") and breken ("to break") are two everyday strong verbs that share a present-tense e but split into different ablaut classes in the past. Trekken runs e–o–o — trek, trok, getrokken — with no vowel-length change in the past. Breken runs e–a–o — breek, brak/braken, gebroken — with the classic singular/plural a/aa split. Breken also carries a feature trekken lacks: it switches its perfect auxiliary by transitivity. When you break something, it's hebben (ik heb het glas gebroken); when something breaks by itself, it's zijn (het glas is gebroken). This page gives both full paradigms and makes the auxiliary switch explicit.
Trekken — to pull, draw, migrate
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Past (sg.) | Past (pl.) | Past participle | Perfect auxiliary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| trekken | trok | trokken | getrokken | hebben |
Classification: strong (class 4 variant, e–o–o). The vowel runs e → o → o: trek → trok → getrokken. The same e–o–o shape appears in vechten → vocht → gevochten ("fight") and schenken → schonk → geschonken ("pour, donate"). A weak trekte / getrekt does not exist.
Present tense
The stem is trek- (the double k of the infinitive simplifies to one).
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | trek | I pull |
| jij / je | trekt | you pull |
| u | trekt | you pull (formal) |
| hij / zij / het | trekt | he / she / it pulls |
| wij / we | trekken | we pull |
| jullie | trekken | you (pl.) pull |
| zij / ze | trekken | they pull |
When je follows the verb the -t drops: trek je?, never trekt je.
Simple past: trok / trokken
| Person | Past form | Vowel |
|---|---|---|
| ik / jij / u / hij / zij / het | trok | short o |
| wij / jullie / zij (pl.) | trokken | short o (double k keeps it short) |
Both trok and trokken keep the short o; the doubled kk in trokken holds the vowel short. No lengthening in the plural — unlike the a/aa verbs.
Hij trok hard aan het touw, maar er gebeurde niets.
He pulled hard on the rope, but nothing happened. Singular past 'trok'.
In de negentiende eeuw trokken veel boeren naar de stad.
In the nineteenth century many farmers migrated to the city. Plural past 'trokken'.
Perfect: hebben + getrokken
| Person | Perfect | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | heb getrokken | I have pulled |
| jij / u | hebt getrokken | you have pulled |
| hij / zij / het | heeft getrokken | he/she/it has pulled |
| wij / jullie / zij | hebben getrokken | we/you/they have pulled |
Trekken is idiom-rich: een conclusie trekken ("draw a conclusion"), de aandacht trekken ("attract attention"), het zich aantrekken ("take it to heart"). When it means migrate/move (people on the move), some speakers use zijn — de vogels zijn naar het zuiden getrokken — but for the everyday "pull" sense it is firmly hebben.
Breken — to break
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Past (sg.) | Past (pl.) | Past participle | Perfect auxiliary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| breken | brak | braken | gebroken | hebben (transitive) / zijn (intransitive) |
Classification: strong (class 4, e–a–o). The vowel runs ee → a/aa → o: breek → brak/braken → gebroken. This is the nemen → nam/namen → genomen family. A weak breekte / gebreekt does not exist.
Present tense
The stem is breek- (the e doubles to ee in the closed singular).
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | breek | I break |
| jij / je | breekt | you break |
| u | breekt | you break (formal) |
| hij / zij / het | breekt | he / she / it breaks |
| wij / we | breken | we break |
| jullie | breken | you (pl.) break |
| zij / ze | breken | they break |
Simple past: brak / braken — the vowel split
| Person | Past form | Vowel |
|---|---|---|
| ik / jij / u / hij / zij / het | brak | short a |
| wij / jullie / zij (pl.) | braken | long aa |
Here the a/aa split is real: brak has a short a (closed by k), braken has a long aa (open syllable bra·ken). Saying wij brak is as jarring as "we broked."
Het kopje brak toen het op de tegels viel.
The cup broke when it fell on the tiles. Singular past 'brak' — short a, intransitive.
Tijdens de storm braken er overal takken af.
During the storm branches broke off everywhere. Plural past 'braken' — long aa.
The perfect — hebben or zijn by transitivity
This is breken's key feature. The participle is always gebroken, but the auxiliary depends on whether there is a doer acting on an object (hebben) or the thing breaks on its own (zijn).
Transitive — someone breaks something → hebben:
Ik heb per ongeluk je lievelingsmok gebroken.
I accidentally broke your favourite mug. A doer + object → hebben.
Intransitive — the thing breaks by itself → zijn:
Pas op, het glas is gebroken.
Careful, the glass is broken / has broken. No doer, change of state → zijn.
| Reading | Auxiliary | Example |
|---|---|---|
| transitive (X breaks Y) | hebben | Hij heeft zijn been gebroken. — He broke his leg. |
| intransitive (Y breaks) | zijn | De golf is op de rotsen gebroken. — The wave broke on the rocks. |
The logic is the standard Dutch hebben/zijn split: zijn marks a change of state with no external agent ("the glass came to be broken"); hebben marks an action performed on something ("I did the breaking"). Note that zijn been breken ("break one's leg") is transitive in Dutch — hij heeft zijn been gebroken — even though English sometimes frames it as something that happens to you.
Imperatives
| Verb | Imperative | Example |
|---|---|---|
| trekken | trek | Trek eens aan deze hendel. — Pull this lever. |
| breken | breek | Breek de chocola in stukjes. — Break the chocolate into pieces. |
Three model sentences
Trek je je conclusies niet een beetje te snel?
Aren't you drawing your conclusions a bit too fast? Inverted 'trek je', idiom.
Mijn telefoon is gevallen en het scherm is gebroken.
My phone fell and the screen is broken. Intransitive → 'is gebroken' (zijn).
De schaatser heeft zijn pols gebroken bij de val.
The skater broke his wrist in the fall. Transitive → 'heeft gebroken' (hebben).
Common Mistakes
❌ Hij trekte hard aan de deur.
Incorrect — trekken is strong: the past is 'trok', never 'trekte'.
✅ Hij trok hard aan de deur.
He pulled hard on the door.
❌ We hebben de hele dag aan dat touw getrekt.
Incorrect — the participle is 'getrokken', not 'getrekt'.
✅ We hebben de hele dag aan dat touw getrokken.
We pulled on that rope all day.
❌ Wij brak het record vorig jaar.
Incorrect — the plural needs the long-vowel past 'braken', not singular 'brak'.
✅ Wij braken het record vorig jaar.
We broke the record last year.
❌ Het glas heeft gebroken toen het viel.
Incorrect — when the thing breaks by itself, the auxiliary is 'zijn'.
✅ Het glas is gebroken toen het viel.
The glass broke when it fell.
❌ Ik ben mijn arm gebroken.
Incorrect — with a doer acting on an object (your arm), use 'hebben'.
✅ Ik heb mijn arm gebroken.
I broke my arm.
Key Takeaways
- trekken is strong (e-o-o): trek → trok / trokken → getrokken (hebben). Short o throughout the past; never trekte.
- breken is strong (e-a-o): breek → brak / braken → gebroken; the a/aa split is real.
- breken's auxiliary switches by transitivity: hebben when someone breaks something (ik heb het gebroken), zijn when it breaks by itself (het is gebroken).
- Zijn been breken is transitive in Dutch → hij heeft zijn been gebroken.
- The participle gebroken never changes, no matter which auxiliary you choose.
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