Zingen ("to sing") is one of the cleanest entry points into the Dutch strong-verb system, because its English cognate behaves exactly the same way: sing → sang → sung lines up almost letter-for-letter with zingen → zong → gezongen. Both come from the same Germanic i–a–u ablaut, which in modern Dutch has settled into the i–o–o pattern shared by a tidy family of verbs ending in -ing(en) and -ink(en): drinken → dronk → gedronken, zinken → zonk → gezonken, springen → sprong → gesprongen. Learn zingen and you have effectively learned the conjugation skeleton for all of them. It is a regular strong verb taking hebben in the perfect.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Simple past (sg.) | Past participle | Perfect auxiliary |
|---|---|---|---|
| zingen | zong | gezongen | hebben |
Classification: strong, class 3 (i–o–o). The stem vowel runs i → o → o across the principal parts. This is the largest and most predictable strong class in Dutch; nearly every verb with a short i before a nasal-plus-consonant (-ing, -ink, -imp) follows it. Because zingen has no prefix, the participle takes the regular ge- + -en: gezongen.
Present tense
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | zing | I sing |
| jij / je | zingt | you sing |
| u | zingt | you sing (formal) |
| hij / zij / het | zingt | he / she / it sings |
| wij / we | zingen | we sing |
| jullie | zingen | you (pl.) sing |
| zij / ze | zingen | they sing |
In the present tense, a strong verb looks completely regular — the ablaut only shows up in the past and the participle. So the present is just stem zing + the ordinary endings: bare stem for ik, zingt for jij/hij, zingen for plurals. Inverted jij drops the -t: zing jij?
Mijn dochter zingt elke ochtend onder de douche.
My daughter sings in the shower every morning. Third-person singular 'zingt' — present looks fully regular.
Simple past: zong and zongen
Here the ablaut appears: singular zong, plural zongen. Map it onto English sang and you will rarely forget it.
| Person | Past form |
|---|---|
| ik / jij / u / hij / zij / het | zong |
| wij / jullie / zij (pl.) | zongen |
Op het feest zongen we tot diep in de nacht.
At the party we sang into the small hours. Plural strong past 'zongen'.
The perfect: heb gezongen
The perfect uses hebben (singing is an activity, not a change of state) plus the participle gezongen — ge- + the o-vowel + -en. English sung is the same vowel and the same idea.
| Person | Perfect | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | heb gezongen | I have sung |
| jij / u | hebt gezongen | you have sung |
| hij / zij / het | heeft gezongen | he/she/it has sung |
| wij / jullie / zij | hebben gezongen | we/you/they have sung |
Heb je ooit in een koor gezongen?
Have you ever sung in a choir? Perfect 'heb ... gezongen', with inverted 'je'.
Imperative
| Form | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
| Zing! | singular command | Sing! |
| Zing maar mee. | everyday invitation | Sing along, go ahead. |
| Zing eens iets voor ons. | friendly request | Sing us something. |
Three model sentences
We zingen 'Lang zal ze leven' als ze binnenkomt.
We'll sing 'Lang zal ze leven' (the Dutch birthday song) when she comes in. Present, plural 'zingen'.
Vroeger zong hij in een bandje.
He used to sing in a little band. Singular strong past 'zong'.
Ze hebben het volkslied uit volle borst gezongen.
They sang the national anthem at the top of their lungs. Perfect 'hebben ... gezongen'.
A word of caution on the i–o–o family
The i–o–o class is large and reliable, but it is not bulletproof — and zingen is your anchor for spotting the lookalikes that break the pattern. Three traps worth knowing: winnen ("to win") follows it perfectly (won, gewonnen), but beginnen — same shape — takes zijn in the perfect (ben begonnen) while zingen takes hebben; the ablaut matches, the auxiliary does not. Brengen and denken look like they might join in but are a different ("rückumlaut") class entirely (bracht/gebracht, dacht/gedacht). And the pattern is slowly eroding: with some nasal verbs you now hear a weak past colloquially (spinde alongside the textbook-standard spon). The rule of thumb: trust the i–o–o vowel pattern for the past and participle, but always confirm the auxiliary separately — most are hebben, but motion and change-of-state members (springen can take zijn when it means a leap to a new spot) follow their meaning.
De vogels zongen al voor zonsopgang.
The birds were already singing before sunrise. Plural strong past 'zongen' in a natural everyday scene.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hij zingde vals.
Incorrect — zingen is strong; the past is 'zong', not a weak 'zingde'.
✅ Hij zong vals.
He sang out of tune.
❌ We hebben de hele avond gezingd.
Incorrect — the participle is the strong 'gezongen', not a weak 'gezingd'.
✅ We hebben de hele avond gezongen.
We sang all evening.
❌ Ik ben in het koor gezongen.
Incorrect — zingen takes 'hebben', not 'zijn': 'Ik heb ... gezongen'.
✅ Ik heb in het koor gezongen.
I sang in the choir.
❌ Wij zongden samen.
Incorrect — the plural past is the strong 'zongen', with no -d-.
✅ Wij zongen samen.
We sang together.
❌ Jij zing mooi.
Incorrect — non-inverted 'jij' takes the -t: 'Jij zingt mooi'.
✅ Jij zingt mooi.
You sing beautifully.
Key Takeaways
- Strong class-3 verb: zing · zong / zongen · gezongen, auxiliary hebben.
- Cognate with English sing / sang / sung — same ablaut, easy to anchor.
- The present tense is fully regular; the vowel only changes in the past (zong/zongen) and participle (gezongen).
- The i–o–o pattern carries over to drinken, vinden, springen, beginnen, zwemmen and the rest of the class.
- Never regularise it: zingde and gezingd are both wrong.
Now practice Dutch
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