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### Past Outings with 'wezen'

To say you went out to do an activity and have since returned, Dutch uses a unique perfect tense construction. 

Use the conjugated auxiliary verb **zijn** (to be) with **wezen** and the bare infinitive of the activity. In this structure, **wezen** implies you went out to do something and came back.

Pattern: **zijn** (conjugated) + **wezen** + **infinitive**

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Notice that *wezen* and the action verb (like *winkelen* or *vissen*) are both placed at the end of the clause as infinitives. You do not use a past participle (a word starting with *ge-*) for the action.

### Leisure and Weekend Trips

This structure is extremely common when recounting sports, hobbies, or weekend outings in casual conversation.

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### Stringing Activities Together

You can use this construction in multiple parts of a sentence to recount a sequence of activities or to contrast different people's plans. Just be sure to use the correct conjugated form of **zijn** for each subject.

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Past activities (wezen + infinitive)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

determiner/pronoun

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Singular pronouns and 'to be' (ik ben, hij is)

The formal 'you' (u bent)

Definite articles (de, het)

Plural pronouns and 'to be' (wij zijn)

The verb 'to have' (hebben)

Basic word order

Numbers 1 to 10 (een, twee, drie)

Verb stems and the 'I' form (ik werk)

Long vowels in verb stems (maken, ik maak)

Short vowels in verb stems (zitten, ik zit)

Present tense singular (-t)

Present tense plural (-en)

Yes/no questions

Question words (wie, wat, waar)

Noun negation (geen)

Plural nouns (-en)

Plural nouns (-s)

Diminutives (-je)

Adjective modifiers (heel, erg, te)

Verb negation (niet)

Singular possessives (mijn, jouw, zijn, haar)

Plural and formal possessives (ons/onze, jullie, hun, uw)

This and these (deze, dit)

That and those (die, dat)

Asking which (welke, welk)

Numbers 11 to 20 (elf, twaalf, dertien...)

Tens and compound numbers (dertig, veertig...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (eerste, tweede...)

Telling time: hours and half hours (uur, half)

Telling time: quarters (kwart over, kwart voor)

Question words (hoeveel, waarom)

Irregular verbs (doen, gaan, staan, zien, komen)

Adjective endings (+e)

Adjectives with 'het' words

Prepositions of place (uit, bij)

Subject-verb inversion

Time before place

Modal verbs (willen, kunnen)

Modal verbs (moeten, mogen)

The verb bracket

Separable prefix verbs

The imperative mood (kom, luister)

Singular object pronouns (mij, jou, hem, haar)

Plural and formal object pronouns (ons, jullie, hen, u)

Reflexive verbs and pronouns (zich, me, je)

Position of negation (niet)

The present perfect tense with regular verbs (hebben gewerkt)

The present perfect tense with motion verbs (zijn gegaan)

Irregular past participles (gezien, gedaan)

The present continuous (zijn aan het)

There is / there are (er is, er zijn)

Unstressed there (er)

And, but, or (en, maar, of)

Because (want)

Months of the year

Prepositions of time (om, van ... tot)

Greetings and politeness

Conversational glue

Prepositions with days (op)

Prepositions with seasons (in)

Genitive of time ('s morgens, 's nachts)

Adverbs of frequency (altijd, vaak)

The future tense (gaan)

The future tense (zullen)

Separable verbs with auxiliary verbs

Apostrophe plurals ('-s)

Irregular plurals (-eren)

Complex diminutives (-pje, -etje, -kje)

Possessive 's (Jan's, vaders)

Indefinite pronouns (iets, niemand, alles)

Indefinite subject pronoun (je)

Reciprocal pronoun (elkaar)

Comparative adjectives (-er dan)

Comparatives with spelling change (-der)

Superlative adjectives (-st)

Irregular comparisons (beter, meer, minder)

Expressing preference (graag, liever, het liefst)

Equality comparisons (even ... als)

Fixed prepositions

That clauses (dat)

Because clauses (omdat)

If and when clauses (als)

Inversion after clauses

Separable verbs in clauses

Negation in clauses (niet)

Past tense of to be (was / waren)

Past tense of to have (had / hadden)

Question	Answer
to go (auxiliary for past outings)	wezen
to shop	winkelen
Yesterday I went shopping in the city.	Gisteren ben ik in de stad wezen winkelen.
Did you already go shopping today?	Ben je vandaag al wezen winkelen?
to fish	vissen
My brother went fishing this morning.	Mijn broer is vanmorgen wezen vissen.
to row	roeien
We went rowing and they went fishing.	Wij zijn wezen roeien en zij zijn wezen vissen.
I went rowing and I had a good time.	Ik ben wezen roeien en ik heb me goed vermaakt.
to sail	zeilen
Two weeks ago we went sailing.	Twee weken geleden zijn we wezen zeilen.
Did you go sailing on the weekend?	Zijn jullie in het weekend wezen zeilen?
to dive	duiken
to surf	surfen
Last summer we went diving and surfing.	Vorige zomer zijn we wezen duiken en surfen.
He went diving, but he found it dangerous.	Hij is wezen duiken, maar hij vond het gevaarlijk.
She went surfing when it was windy.	Ze is wezen surfen toen het waaide.
to run, to jog	hardlopen
to picnic	picknicken
We went jogging and after that we went picnicking.	We zijn wezen hardlopen en daarna zijn we wezen picknicken.
Did you go jogging in the forest this morning?	Ben je vanmorgen in het bos wezen hardlopen?
Yesterday we went picnicking with the family.	Gisteren zijn we met de familie wezen picknicken.
to play golf	golfen
My boss went golfing, but he was bored.	Mijn baas is wezen golfen, maar hij verveelde zich.
A month ago we went golfing here.	Een maand geleden zijn wij hier wezen golfen.