Zullen (shall/will) — Full Conjugation | Dutch Grammar

Zullen is the auxiliary behind both the Dutch future and the Dutch conditional — a single verb doing the work that English splits between will and would. You never translate zullen as a content verb on its own; it always leans on an infinitive: ik zal komen ("I will come"), ik zou komen ("I would come"). The crucial insight is that its past-tense form, zou, IS the conditional. There is no separate "would" verb in Dutch — zou is literally the past tense of zal, and the past of "will" is, in both languages, "would." Master that link and the whole future/conditional system clicks into place.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present (sg.)	Past / conditional (sg.)	Perfect auxiliary
zullen	zal	zou	(hebben — rarely used)

Classification: irregular (preterite-present modal). Zullen belongs to the modal/auxiliary group whose present tense historically came from an old past tense — which is why the ik form zal takes no -t even in the third person (hij zal, never hij zalt). Its own past, zou/zouden, is irregular and has taken on the dedicated job of marking the conditional.

Present tense — the future auxiliary

Person	Form	English
ik	zal	I will / shall
jij / je	zult / zal	you will
u	zult / zal	you will (formal)
hij / zij / het	zal	he / she / it will
wij / we	zullen	we will
jullie	zullen	you (pl.) will
zij / ze	zullen	they will

The skeleton: zal for ik and the third-person singular; zult or zal for jij/u; zullen for all plurals. The jij/u form has two accepted variants: zult is the older, slightly more formal choice (formal), while zal is increasingly common in everyday speech (informal). After inversion, jij drops any -t: zul je? / zul jij? (or zal je? / zal jij?) — never zult jij.

Ik zal je morgen bellen, beloofd.

I'll call you tomorrow, promise. Future auxiliary 'zal' + infinitive 'bellen'.

Past tense / conditional: zou and zouden

This is the heart of the verb. Zou (singular) and zouden (plural) are formally the past tense of zal — but their everyday job is to mark the conditional: "would." There is no other "would" in Dutch.

Person	Form	English
ik / jij / u / hij / zij / het	zou	I/you/he … would
wij / jullie / zij (pl.)	zouden	we/you/they would

So the relationship is exactly parallel in both languages: zal : zou = will : would. The "past of will" is "would" — and in Dutch that is literally the morphological past of zal.

Ik zou graag een keer naar IJsland gaan.

I'd love to go to Iceland sometime. Conditional 'zou' + infinitive — a polite, hypothetical wish.

The perfect — avoided in practice

Zullen technically has a past participle, gezuld, but it is virtually never used; native speakers avoid the perfect of zullen entirely and rephrase. You will not need it in conversation, and you may go years without ever encountering it (archaic / extremely rare). When you need to express a perfect "would have," Dutch reaches for zou … hebben + participle instead (Ik zou het gedaan hebben, "I would have done it").

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Don't try to build a perfect of zullen. For "would have done," use zou … hebben + participle: Dat zou ik nooit gedaan hebben ("I would never have done that"). The participle gezuld is a dictionary curiosity, not a usable form.

Imperative — none

Modals like zullen have no imperative; you cannot command someone to "will." (This is shared with kunnen, mogen, and the other modals.)

Two essential uses, side by side

1. Future / prediction

Het zal morgen wel regenen.

It'll probably rain tomorrow. Prediction with 'zal' — the particle 'wel' softens it to 'probably'.

2. Offers and suggestions — "Zal ik …?"

A very common, idiomatic use: Zal ik …? / Zullen we …? to offer help or propose doing something together. English uses "Shall I …?" / "Shall we …?", which now sounds formal in English but is completely everyday in Dutch (informal).

Zal ik het raam even openzetten?

Shall I open the window for a moment? An everyday offer with 'Zal ik …?'.

3. Conditional — "zou"

Zou je dat voor me kunnen doen?

Could you do that for me? Polite request — 'zou' makes it a soft, conditional ask.

Three model sentences

We zullen zien.

We'll see. A fixed everyday phrase — future 'zullen', no explicit infinitive needed.

Zullen we vanavond uit eten gaan?

Shall we go out for dinner tonight? Suggestion with 'Zullen we …?'.

Ik zou maar opschieten als ik jou was.

I'd hurry up if I were you. Conditional 'zou' in advice — note 'als ik jou was' for the English 'if I were you'.

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The single most useful fact about zullen: zal = will, zou = would. Because zou is simply the past tense of zal, Dutch needs no separate conditional verb — the same word that means "would" is grammatically "the past of will."

Common Mistakes

❌ Hij zalt morgen komen.

Incorrect — modals take no -t in the third-person singular. It's 'hij zal'.

✅ Hij zal morgen komen.

He'll come tomorrow.

❌ Ik zal het doen als ik tijd had.

Incorrect — a hypothetical needs the conditional 'zou', not the future 'zal': 'Ik zou het doen …'.

✅ Ik zou het doen als ik tijd had.

I'd do it if I had time.

❌ Wij zou graag komen.

Incorrect — the plural conditional is 'zouden', not 'zou'.

✅ Wij zouden graag komen.

We'd love to come.

❌ Zult jij me helpen?

Incorrect — after inversion 'jij' drops the -t: 'Zul jij me helpen?' (or 'Zal jij …?').

✅ Zul jij me helpen?

Will you help me?

❌ Ik heb het gezuld.

Incorrect — the perfect of zullen is not used. Rephrase with 'zou … hebben': 'Ik zou het gedaan hebben.'

✅ Ik zou het gedaan hebben.

I would have done it.

Key Takeaways

Present (future auxiliary): ik/hij zal, jij/u zult or zal, wij/jullie/zij zullen — no -t on zal.
Past = conditional: zou (sg.), zouden (pl.). Zou IS "would"; it is literally the past of zal.
Core relation: zal : zou = will : would.
Idiomatic offers: Zal ik …? / Zullen we …? ("Shall I/we …?"), everyday in Dutch.
No usable perfect and no imperative; for "would have," use zou … hebben + participle.

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