Zijn: To Be | Dutch Grammar

Zijn ("to be") is the first verb you will reach for in Dutch and the one you will use most. It is also the most irregular verb in the language — its forms (ben, bent, is, was, geweest) don't resemble each other at all, just as English be / am / is / was / been don't. That irregularity is worth meeting head-on early, because zijn does triple duty: it links subjects to descriptions, it states where things are, and — uniquely — it is the perfect-tense helper for itself and for a whole class of verbs. Get zijn solid and a surprising amount of Dutch falls into place. This page is the working tour; the full paradigm with every tense lives on the verb reference page for zijn.

The present tense

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

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

The pattern to memorise: ben for ik, bent for jij and u, is for the third-person singular, and zijn for all three plurals. Note that the infinitive and the plural form are the same word, zijn — convenient, but a coincidence of this verb.

Ik ben moe.

I'm tired. The 'ik' form is 'ben'.

Zij is dokter.

She is a doctor. Third-person singular: 'is'. (Dutch drops the article before professions — not 'een dokter'.)

Wij zijn er over tien minuten.

We'll be there in ten minutes. Plural subject takes 'zijn'.

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Formal u normally takes bent (U bent te laat), but u is is also heard and accepted, especially in older or more formal speech. Beginners should default to u bent.

The inversion form: ben jij, bent u

When the subject jij/je comes after the verb — in a question, or after a fronted word — the verb keeps its -t: bent. But the parallel rule for jij that you will meet on regular verbs (where they lose the -t after the verb) does not strip zijn: it stays ben jij, with the -t gone, because the base form for jij here is the irregular ben. Compare:

Waar ben je?

Where are you? Inverted 'je' question — the form is 'ben', not 'bent'.

Ben jij de nieuwe buurman?

Are you the new neighbour? Yes/no question by inversion; 'ben jij' (no -t).

Bent u meneer De Vries?

Are you Mr De Vries? With formal 'u', the form stays 'bent'.

This jij-specific drop (je bent → ben je?) mirrors what regular verbs do, but because zijn is suppletive you simply memorise the pair: je bent / ben je.

The simple past: was and waren

The past tense has just two forms, split by number — singular was, plural waren.

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

Ik was gisteren ziek, daarom kwam ik niet.

I was sick yesterday, that's why I didn't come. Singular past: 'was'.

We waren allemaal verbaasd.

We were all surprised. Plural past: 'waren'.

English was/were splits the same way (I was, we were), so this distinction will feel natural — though Dutch puts jij on the singular side (jij was, like je was), unlike English you were.

Zijn is its own perfect auxiliary — the keystone fact

Here is the single most important thing about zijn, and the fact that organises the whole Dutch perfect-tense system. To say "I have been," Dutch uses zijn itself as the helping verb, plus the past participle geweest:

Ik ben in Spanje geweest.

I have been to Spain. Auxiliary 'ben' + participle 'geweest' — NOT 'heb geweest'.

Ben je ooit in Japan geweest?

Have you ever been to Japan? 'ben je ... geweest'.

English uses have for every perfect ("I have been"). Dutch does not: the perfect of zijn is built with zijn. So it is ik ben geweest, and never ik heb geweest. This is not a quirk you can shrug off — it is the anchor of the larger rule that a group of verbs (those of motion and change of state) all take zijn rather than hebben in the perfect.

Zijn as the auxiliary for change and motion verbs

Once you accept that zijn helps itself, the rest of the system follows. Verbs that describe going somewhere or becoming something — a change of place or a change of state — also take zijn in the perfect, not hebben:

Ik ben naar huis gegaan.

I went home / I have gone home. Motion verb 'gaan' takes 'zijn': 'ben ... gegaan'.

Mijn opa is vorig jaar gestorven.

My grandfather died last year. 'Sterven' (to die) is a change-of-state verb — 'is ... gestorven'.

De trein is al vertrokken.

The train has already left. 'Vertrekken' (to depart) is motion — 'is ... vertrokken'.

The intuition: zijn marks a new end state the subject has arrived in — you are now home, you are now gone. Hebben, by contrast, is the default for almost everything else. Which verbs take which auxiliary is its own topic, treated in full on Hebben vs Zijn as the Perfect Auxiliary; for now, just nail the keystone: zijn is its own helper, and so are its cousins of motion and change.

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The participle of zijn is geweest, and the perfect is ik ben geweest. If you ever catch yourself writing ik heb geweest, stop — it is the most common single error English speakers make in the Dutch perfect.

Zijn as a copula: linking subjects to descriptions

In its everyday role, zijn links a subject to a noun, an adjective, or a place — exactly like English to be. A crucial detail for English speakers: when zijn is followed by an adjective (a predicate adjective), that adjective stays in its bare dictionary form with no ending, regardless of the subject:

Het is koud vandaag.

It's cold today. 'koud' is a bare predicate adjective after 'is' — no -e ending.

De kinderen zijn moe.

The children are tired. Even with a plural subject, predicate 'moe' takes no ending.

Dit is mijn zus, Anna.

This is my sister, Anna. 'zijn' linking the subject to a noun.

This bare-adjective behaviour is the friendly half of Dutch adjectives and is covered in full on Predicate vs Attributive Adjectives. And note what zijn does not do: where English says I am hungry, Dutch says Ik heb honger — literally "I have hunger." A whole family of physical states uses hebben, not zijn. That trap is the headline of the next page; meet it now so it doesn't surprise you.

Stating location and existence

Zijn states where something is, just like English. The little word er ("there") often partners with it for "to be there" / existence:

Wij zijn er.

We're here / We've arrived. Literally 'we are there' — a fixed everyday phrase on arrival.

De sleutels zijn in de keuken.

The keys are in the kitchen. Plain locational 'zijn'.

Is er nog koffie?

Is there any coffee left? Existential 'er ... is' (here inverted in a question).

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 mijn beste vriend.

Incorrect — the 'jij' form is 'bent', not 'ben'. The bare 'ben' belongs to 'ik' (or to 'jij' only when inverted: 'ben jij').

✅ Jij bent mijn beste vriend.

You're my best friend.

❌ De kinderen is moe.

Incorrect — plural subject 'de kinderen' needs the plural form 'zijn'.

✅ De kinderen zijn moe.

The children are tired.

❌ Wij was te laat.

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

✅ Wij waren te laat.

We were late.

❌ Bent jij klaar?

Incorrect — when 'jij' comes after the verb, 'zijn' loses the -t: 'Ben jij klaar?'

✅ Ben jij klaar?

Are you ready?

Key Takeaways

Present: ik ben, jij/u bent, hij/zij/het is, wij/jullie/zij zijn. Four shapes; memorise them.
After the verb, jij drops the -t: je bent → ben je?, while u keeps it: bent u?.
Past: singular was, plural waren — split by number, like English was/were.
Zijn is its own perfect auxiliary: ik ben geweest, never ik heb geweest. The same zijn helps motion and change-of-state verbs (ben gegaan, is vertrokken).
As a copula, zijn takes a bare predicate adjective (Het is koud), and many states English builds with be use Dutch hebben instead (Ik heb honger).

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