"Strong verb" sounds like a warning — a verb that misbehaves, that you'll have to watch in every form. In the Dutch past tense that reputation is deserved: strong verbs change their vowel there (geven → gaf, rijden → reed), which is exactly what makes them strong. But in the present tense, the news is the opposite, and this page exists mainly to deliver it: a Dutch strong verb conjugates in the present with the same regular endings and the same stem vowel as any weak verb. Geven ("to give") gives ik geef, jij geeft, hij geeft — every form keeps the ee of the infinitive. There is no special "strong present." If you've studied German, this is a genuine relief, because German did keep a vowel change in the present (ich gebe but du gibst, er gibt), and Dutch threw it away.
What "strong" actually means — and where it doesn't apply
A strong verb is one that forms its past tense by changing the stem vowel (ablaut) rather than by adding -te/-de: zingen → zong → gezongen, breken → brak → gebroken. That vowel-swapping machinery is a past-tense and past-participle phenomenon. The present tense is built by a completely separate, fully regular rule that you already know: take the stem, add nothing for ik, add -t for the singular jij/u/hij/zij/het, and use the infinitive for the plural (see verbs/present/regular).
Crucially, the stem of a strong verb in the present is just the infinitive minus -en, with no vowel change at all. Geven → stem geef. Lopen → stem loop. Nemen → stem neem. The vowel you see in the infinitive is the vowel you use across the whole present.
Ik geef je morgen het geld terug, beloofd.
I'll give you the money back tomorrow, promise. — strong verb 'geven', present stem 'geef' keeps the ee.
Loop je even mee naar de auto?
Will you walk to the car with me for a sec? — 'lopen' is strong (liep in the past), but the present stem is just 'loop'.
Hij neemt altijd de trein van half negen.
He always takes the half-past-eight train. — 'nemen' → present 'neem(t)', regular endings.
The full picture: geven across the present
Here is geven laid out in full. Notice there is nothing to learn that you didn't already learn for werken — only the spelling adjustment that turns the open-syllable ge-ven into the closed-syllable stem geef (the long vowel has to be written double in a closed syllable; that re-spelling is covered at verbs/present/spelling-changes).
| Subject | Form | Vowel |
|---|---|---|
| ik | geef | ee |
| jij / je | geeft | ee |
| u | geeft | ee |
| hij / zij / het | geeft | ee |
| wij / jullie / zij | geven | e (open syllable) |
Every singular form has ee; the plural reverts to the single e of the infinitive only because the syllable reopens (ge-ven) — that is a spelling rule, not a stem change. No form switches the vowel to an i or anything else. Compare werken (weak) and geven (strong) side by side and you literally cannot tell from the present tense which one is "strong":
| Subject | werken (weak) | geven (strong) |
|---|---|---|
| ik | werk | geef |
| jij | werkt | geeft |
| hij | werkt | geeft |
| wij | werken | geven |
The two columns follow the identical pattern. The difference only surfaces in the past: ik werkte (weak, -te) versus ik gaf (strong, vowel change).
The German contrast — this is the load-bearing point
If you are coming to Dutch from German, your instinct will sabotage you here, because German did not simplify this. A large class of German strong verbs change their stem vowel in the second- and third-person singular of the present: geben → ich gebe but du gibst, er gibt (e → i); fahren → ich fahre but du fährst, er fährt (a → ä); lesen → du liest, er liest (e → ie). Dutch had this too, historically, and then levelled it out. The result is that the cognate Dutch verbs keep one stem vowel everywhere.
| Verb | German (3sg) | Dutch (3sg) |
|---|---|---|
| give | er gibt (i) | hij geeft (ee) |
| read | er liest (ie) | hij leest (ee) |
| take | er nimmt (i) | hij neemt (ee) |
| drive/go | er fährt (ä) | hij rijdt (ij, unchanged) |
Zij leest elke avond een hoofdstuk voor aan de kinderen.
She reads a chapter aloud to the kids every evening. — Dutch 'leest' keeps ee; German would shift to 'liest'.
Geef je me het zout even aan?
Could you pass me the salt? — 'geef' with ee, never 'gif'.
The genuine present irregulars — and there are only a few
Dutch did not become perfectly regular; it kept a tiny set of verbs whose present forms really do depart from the infinitive stem. There are essentially three you must know, and they are among the most frequent verbs in the language, so you'll learn them fast simply through use.
1. komen ("to come") — the one true present-tense vowel quirk. The infinitive has a long oo-sound, but the ik-form takes a short o: ik kom, not ik koom. The other forms restore the long vowel: jij komt, hij komt, wij komen. So it's only the ik-form that is odd.
| Subject | Form | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ik | kom | short o — irregular |
| jij / u / hij | komt | long oo restored |
| wij / jullie / zij | komen | long oo (open syllable) |
Ik kom er zo aan, geef me twee minuten.
I'm coming right over, give me two minutes. — 'ik kom' has the short o, never 'koom'.
Kom je vanavond ook naar het feest?
Are you coming to the party tonight too? — 'kom je' (inverted, no -t), long-vowel quality.
2. hebben ("to have") — irregular throughout: ik heb, jij hebt, hij heeft, wij hebben. The stem is heb, but the third person singular is the surprising heeft. This verb has its own dedicated page (verbs/fundamentals/hebben-to-have); just note here that it is not a stem-vowel pattern you can predict.
Heb je toevallig een oplader bij je?
Do you happen to have a charger on you? — 'heb je', the irregular hebben.
Zij heeft drie broers en geen zussen.
She has three brothers and no sisters. — third person 'heeft', not 'hebt'.
3. zijn ("to be") — fully suppletive, sharing no recognisable stem with its infinitive: ik ben, jij bent, hij is, wij zijn. Like hebben, this is a learn-it-as-a-whole verb with its own page (verbs/fundamentals/zijn-to-be), not a stem-change pattern.
Ik ben er bijna, ben jij al binnen?
I'm almost there, are you inside yet? — 'ben' / 'bent', the suppletive zijn.
That really is the list. Komen, hebben, zijn — three high-frequency verbs you'll have memorised within your first weeks — are the present-tense exceptions. Every other strong verb behaves with total regularity in the present.
Common Mistakes
The recurring error here is importing a vowel change that Dutch doesn't have — almost always a German habit, occasionally an over-correction from learners who hear "strong verb" and expect the present to be irregular too.
❌ Hij gift me elke week wat zakgeld.
Wrong — that's the German vowel change (gibt). Dutch keeps ee: 'geeft'.
✅ Hij geeft me elke week wat zakgeld.
He gives me some pocket money every week.
❌ Zij list de krant bij het ontbijt.
Wrong — importing German 'liest'. The Dutch present stem of lezen keeps ee.
✅ Zij leest de krant bij het ontbijt.
She reads the paper at breakfast.
❌ Ik koom morgen langs.
Wrong — the ik-form of komen takes the short o.
✅ Ik kom morgen langs.
I'll come by tomorrow.
❌ Jij gift te veel weg.
Wrong on both counts: no vowel change, and the form is geeft. 'Gift' isn't a form of 'geven' at all — it's the noun 'gift' (a donation), not this verb.
✅ Jij geeft te veel weg.
You give too much away.
❌ Zij hebt twee kinderen.
Wrong — the third person singular of hebben is the irregular 'heeft', not 'hebt'.
✅ Zij heeft twee kinderen.
She has two children.
Key Takeaways
- Strong is a past-tense property. In the present, strong verbs use ordinary stem + (t) endings and keep the infinitive's vowel: geven → geef/geeft/geven, all ee.
- No German-style present ablaut. Dutch dropped gibt/liest/nimmt; the cognates are geeft/leest/neemt. Overrule any German vowel change creeping in.
- The real present irregulars are just three: komen (ik kom, short o), hebben (hij heeft), and zijn (suppletive). All three are extremely frequent, so they stick quickly.
- The plural's single vowel (geven, komen) is a spelling consequence of the open syllable, not a stem change — see verbs/present/spelling-changes.
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.
- Strong Verbs: Vowel Change in the PastB1 — How Dutch strong verbs form the simple past by changing the stem vowel, and how their past participle ends in -en — including the singular/plural vowel split that most resources leave out.