Zijn (to be) — Full Conjugation | Dutch Grammar

Zijn ("to be") is the single most important verb in Dutch and the most irregular one in the language. Its forms — ben, bent, is, zijn, was, waren, geweest — share no common stem, exactly as English be / am / is / was / been don't. They are suppletive: historically separate roots that were welded into one paradigm. This page lays out every form you need, with the keystone fact flagged: zijn is its own perfect auxiliary, and it is the model for the whole class of Dutch verbs that build their perfect with zijn instead of hebben. (For the working tour of how to use these forms, see the companion page Zijn: To Be.)

Principal parts

The principal parts are the four forms you memorise to generate everything else. For an irregular verb like zijn, you simply learn them outright.

Infinitive	Simple past (sg.)	Past participle	Perfect auxiliary
zijn	was	geweest	zijn

Classification: irregular (suppletive). Zijn is not strong, weak, or even straightforwardly irregular — it is suppletive, the only Dutch verb whose forms come from three different ancient roots (b- in ben/bent, (i)s- in is, wes- in was/waren/geweest).

Present tense

Six grammatical persons, four distinct shapes. There is no rule that generates these — learn them as fixed forms.

Person	Form	English
ik	ben	I am
jij / je	bent	you are
u	bent	you are (formal)
hij / zij / het	is	he / she / it is
wij / we	zijn	we are
jullie	zijn	you (pl.) are
zij / ze	zijn	they are

The skeleton to memorise: ben for ik, bent for jij/u, is for the third-person singular, and zijn for all three plurals. When jij follows the verb (in a question or after a fronted element), zijn drops the -t: ben jij?, ben je? — never bent jij. With formal u the -t stays: bent u?.

Ik ben moe, ik ga zo naar bed.

I'm tired, I'm going to bed soon. The 'ik' form is 'ben'.

Simple past: was and waren

The past has just two forms, split by number — singular was, plural waren. English splits was/were the same way, so this feels natural; the one difference is that Dutch puts jij on the singular side (jij was), where English has you were.

Person	Past form
ik / jij / u / hij / zij / het	was
wij / jullie / zij (pl.)	waren

The perfect: built with zijn itself

Here is the keystone. To say "I have been," Dutch uses zijn as its own helping verb plus the participle geweest. English uses have for every perfect ("I have been"); Dutch uses zijn for the perfect of zijn.

Person	Perfect	English
ik	ben geweest	I have been
jij / u	bent geweest	you have been
hij / zij / het	is geweest	he/she/it has been
wij / jullie / zij	zijn geweest	we/you/they have been

This is not a quirk to shrug off — it is the anchor of the larger rule that verbs of motion and change of state (gaan, komen, vertrekken, sterven …) all take zijn rather than hebben in the perfect. Zijn is the model; once you accept ik ben geweest, the whole class follows.

Imperative

The imperative is wees ("be!"), used in commands and set encouragements. It is irregular — not the bare stem you'd expect — and is common in fixed phrases.

Form	Use	English
Wees!	singular / general	Be!
Wees voorzichtig.	everyday phrase	Be careful.
Weest u welkom.	formal (slightly archaic)	Be welcome (you).

The plural/formal weest survives mainly in elevated or set expressions (literary); in everyday speech you say Wees to anyone.

Past participle and full overview

The past participle is geweest ([xə-ˈʋeːst]). It carries the standard ge- prefix but an irregular stem.

Ben je ooit in Japan geweest?

Have you ever been to Japan? Auxiliary 'ben' + participle 'geweest'.

Three model sentences

These three cover zijn's main jobs: identity, location, and the perfect.

Dit is mijn collega Sanne.

This is my colleague Sanne. Identity / copula use — 'is' links subject to a noun.

De kinderen zijn al boven.

The children are already upstairs. Plural subject 'de kinderen' takes 'zijn', stating location.

We zijn vorig jaar in Portugal geweest.

We were in Portugal last year. The perfect of zijn — 'zijn ... geweest', never 'hebben ... geweest'.

💡

The one form to burn in: the perfect of zijn is ik ben geweest, never ik heb geweest. Zijn is its own auxiliary — and that single fact is the model for every Dutch motion-and-change verb that takes zijn in the perfect.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ik heb in Frankrijk geweest.

Incorrect — zijn is its own perfect auxiliary, so it must be 'ben', not 'heb'.

✅ Ik ben in Frankrijk geweest.

I have been to France.

❌ Jij ben te laat.

Incorrect — the upright 'jij' form is 'bent'. Bare 'ben' belongs to 'ik', or to 'jij' only when inverted (ben jij).

✅ Jij bent te laat.

You're late.

❌ Bent jij klaar?

Incorrect — when 'jij' follows the verb, zijn drops the -t: 'Ben jij klaar?'

✅ Ben jij klaar?

Are you ready?

❌ Wij was verbaasd.

Incorrect — the plural past is 'waren', not 'was'.

✅ Wij waren verbaasd.

We were surprised.

❌ De gasten is er al.

Incorrect — a plural subject needs the plural form 'zijn': 'De gasten zijn er al.'

✅ De gasten zijn er al.

The guests are already here.

Key Takeaways

Present: ik ben, jij/u bent, hij/zij/het is, wij/jullie/zij zijn — four shapes, memorised.
Inversion: jij drops the -t (ben jij?), u keeps it (bent u?).
Past: singular was, plural waren, split by number like English was/were.
Perfect: ik ben geweest — zijn is its own auxiliary, the model for all motion-and-change verbs.
Imperative wees, participle geweest; the verb is fully suppletive, so every form is memorised rather than derived.

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