This page is about a single letter that you cannot hear but must write — and getting it wrong is the most common spelling mistake in the entire Dutch language, made daily by native speakers, teachers, and journalists. When a verb's stem already ends in -d, the jij/hij/zij form still adds the agreement -t, producing the spelling -dt: hij wordt, jij rijdt. The catch is that -dt sounds exactly like a single -t — there is no audible difference between wordt and a hypothetical wort. So your ear gives you no help; you have to reason it out from the rule. The good news: the rule is short, and once you trust it, you will out-spell most natives.
The rule: the agreement -t is added on top of the stem's -d
Forget sound for a moment and think purely about morphology. The conjugation recipe never changes: jij/hij/zij = stem + t. If the stem happens to end in -d, you still add that -t. You do not delete the -d; you do not skip the -t. You write both: word (stem) + t (ending) = wordt.
| Infinitive | Stem | ik (stem only) | jij / hij / zij (stem + t) |
|---|---|---|---|
| worden (to become) | word | ik word | jij wordt, hij wordt |
| rijden (to drive) | rijd | ik rijd | jij rijdt, hij rijdt |
| antwoorden (to answer) | antwoord | ik antwoord | jij antwoordt, hij antwoordt |
| vinden (to find) | vind | ik vind | jij vindt, hij vindt |
| houden (to hold/love) | houd | ik houd | jij houdt, hij houdt |
Notice the ik column: ik word, ik rijd, ik vind — bare stem, no extra -t, because ik never takes the agreement ending. The -dt belongs to jij/hij/zij only.
Het wordt steeds kouder buiten.
It's getting colder and colder outside. — 'worden' → stem 'word' + t = 'wordt'.
Hij rijdt veel te hard op de snelweg.
He drives way too fast on the motorway. — 'rijden' → 'rijd' + t = 'rijdt'.
Ik word morgen veertig, niet te geloven.
I turn forty tomorrow, can you believe it. — 'ik' takes the bare stem 'word', no extra t.
The diagnostic that never fails
When you face a d-stem verb and a singular non-ik subject, ask one question: is this the jij/hij/zij form? If yes, there is an agreement -t to add — so write -dt. If the subject is ik, no agreement -t, so write just -d. That is the entire decision.
| Subject | Add agreement -t? | Form of "worden" |
|---|---|---|
| ik | no | word |
| jij / je | yes | wordt |
| u | yes | wordt |
| hij / zij / het | yes | wordt |
| wij / jullie / zij (plural) | infinitive | worden |
Word jij ook zo moe van dit weer?
Does this weather make you tired too? — inverted 'jij' after the verb: the agreement -t drops, leaving bare 'word'.
Wordt u opgehaald of komt u met de auto?
Are you being picked up, or are you coming by car? — 'u' keeps the -t: 'wordt u'.
That first example is important: the inversion -t-drop from regular verbs applies here too. With jij/je directly after the verb, the agreement -t disappears, and a d-stem reverts to plain -d: word je?, not wordt je?. The -dt only survives where the agreement -t survives. We cover that interaction in verbs/present/subject-verb-agreement.
The t-stem mirror: zitten → hij zit (no double t)
Now the symmetric case, and it catches learners going the other way. When a stem already ends in -t, you do not add a second t. The agreement -t is already "there" — Dutch never writes -tt at the end of a word. So zitten → stem zit → hij zit, not hij zitt.
| Infinitive | Stem | ik | jij / hij / zij |
|---|---|---|---|
| zitten (to sit) | zit | ik zit | hij zit |
| eten (to eat) | eet | ik eet | hij eet |
| weten (to know) | weet | ik weet | hij weet |
| praten (to talk) | praat | ik praat | hij praat |
So a t-stem looks the same for ik and for hij: ik zit / hij zit, ik eet / hij eet. The agreement -t fuses with the stem's -t into a single written -t. Compare this with the d-stem, where the two letters stay distinct (d + t = dt). The principle is identical — "stem + agreement -t" — but d+t yields two visible letters while t+t collapses to one.
Hij zit al uren in de file.
He's been stuck in traffic for hours. — 'zitten' → 'zit', no second t for 'hij'.
Zij weet altijd precies wat ze wil.
She always knows exactly what she wants. — 'weten' → 'weet', single t.
Hij eet nooit ontbijt, alleen koffie.
He never eats breakfast, just coffee. — 'eten' → 'eet', single t.
Why your ear can't help you
Dutch devoices word-final consonants: a final -d is pronounced as "t" (this is the same rule that turns hond into a "t" sound at the end). So word, wordt, zit, and eet all end in the identical "t" sound. The spelling distinctions — -d, -dt, -t — encode grammar, not pronunciation. This is the deep reason the -dt error is so universal: there is genuinely no acoustic cue. You cannot pass this by listening harder. You pass it by knowing the morphology: stem + agreement -t, written out honestly.
Common Mistakes
The -dt omission is the headline error here — and it is precisely the one native speakers make most. As an English speaker you have an advantage: you are reasoning from the rule, not relying on a "feel" that misleads natives.
❌ Hij word steeds beter.
Wrong — the jij/hij form needs the agreement -t on top of the stem's -d.
✅ Hij wordt steeds beter.
He's getting better and better — stem 'word' + agreement t = 'wordt'.
❌ Hij rijd te hard.
Wrong — 'rijden' is a d-stem; the hij form is rijd + t.
✅ Hij rijdt te hard.
He drives too fast — 'rijdt' with the silent extra -t.
❌ Ik wordt morgen veertig.
Wrong — 'ik' takes no agreement -t, so no -dt; just the bare stem 'word'.
✅ Ik word morgen veertig.
I turn forty tomorrow — 'ik word', plain -d.
❌ Hij zitt in de trein.
Wrong — a t-stem never doubles; the agreement -t fuses with the stem's -t.
✅ Hij zit in de trein.
He's on the train — single -t in 'zit'.
❌ Wordt jij boos?
Wrong — with jij directly after the verb, the agreement -t drops, so no -dt.
✅ Word jij boos?
Are you getting angry? — inverted jij takes the bare stem 'word'.
Key Takeaways
- A d-stem verb still adds the agreement -t for jij/hij/zij: word + t = wordt, rijd + t = rijdt. The extra -t is silent but written.
- ik takes the bare stem with no agreement -t: ik word, ik rijd — plain -d.
- A t-stem never doubles: zit, eet, weet — the agreement -t merges with the stem's -t.
- Your ear is no help: final -d, -dt, and -t all sound like "t." The spelling encodes grammar, so reason from "stem + agreement -t."
- The inversion rule still applies: jij right after the verb drops the agreement -t (word je?, not wordt je?).
Now practice Dutch
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- The Present Tense: Regular VerbsA1 — The stem+(t) system for regular Dutch verbs in the present tense — and the inversion rule that drops the -t when jij follows the verb.
- Present Tense Spelling ChangesA1 — How the open/closed-syllable and final-devoicing rules reshape the stem across the present tense — maken→maak/maakt, leven→leef/leeft, reizen→reis/reist.
- Subject-Verb Agreement and Inversion EffectsA2 — The full agreement picture: the jij-inversion t-drop, why it spares u, agreement after fronting, and compound subjects — with the clitic logic that explains it all.
- Mistake: The -dt Spelling (wordt, vindt, gebeurd)B1 — The most notorious spelling trap in Dutch — even natives slip. For verbs whose stem ends in -d, the hij/jij present tense is stem + t (word + t = wordt), the ik-form is bare stem (word), inversion before je drops the -t (word je?), and the past participle -d (gebeurd) must not be confused with the present -t (gebeurt). This page builds the rule from the ground up and drills every trap.
- Spelling D/T and V/F, Z/SA2 — Why you write hond (not hont), hij wordt (with a silent t), and brief (not brieve) — Dutch spells the underlying consonant recovered from a related form, even when you can't hear it.