The Present Tense for Ongoing Actions
In English, actions that started in the past and are still happening usually use the present perfect or present perfect continuous tense (e.g., "I have been a beekeeper for ten years").
In Dutch, this is much simpler. If the action is still ongoing, use the present tense. To show how long the action has been happening, add al (already) followed by the duration.
| I have been a beekeeper for ten years. | Ik ben al tien jaar imker. |
| The bees have been living in this beehive for months. | De bijen leven al maanden in deze bijenkorf. |
Starting Points with "sinds"
To specify the exact time an ongoing action started rather than its total duration, use sinds (since). Because the action is still happening, you still use the present tense.
| We have been breeding bees since the spring. | Wij kweken sinds de lente bijen. |
If you place the time phrase at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis, the verb and subject swap places (inversion).
| Since January, I have been keeping bees. | Sinds januari houd ik bijen. |
To emphasize that an ongoing action started very recently, use pas sinds (only since).
| We have only been harvesting honey since the summer. | We oogsten pas sinds de zomer honing. |
Here are a few more examples of ongoing actions with our new beekeeping vocabulary:
| The beekeeper has been breeding bees for a year. | De imker kweekt al een jaar bijen. |
| I always wear a suit because the bees sometimes sting. | Ik draag altijd een pak omdat de bijen soms steken. |
