Regular past tense (-de, -den)

The Simple Past Tense: -de(n)

For regular verbs whose stems end in a voiced consonant (letters not in 't kofschip) or a vowel, the simple past takes -de for singular subjects and -den for plural subjects.

For singular subjects (ik, jij, hij, zij, het), add -de to the stem:

For plural subjects (wij, jullie, zij), add -den to the stem:

Verbs with 'v' and 'z'

Verbs like leven (to live), proeven (to taste), and verhuizen (to move) present a special spelling case.

When you remove the -en from the infinitive, the root ends in a voiced v or z (e.g., leev-, proev-, verhuiz-). Because these are voiced, they take the -de(n) endings.

However, Dutch spelling rules dictate that a syllable cannot end in v or z, changing them to f and s. Despite this spelling change, the past tense forms still take -de or -den.

Notice how the spelling changes to f or s, but the ending remains a voiced d: