Breakdown of Ik ben mijn bankpas vergeten.
ik
I
zijn
to be
vergeten
to forget
mijn
my
de bankpas
the debit card
Questions & Answers about Ik ben mijn bankpas vergeten.
Why doesn't the past participle of vergeten get a ge- prefix?
Because vergeten starts with the unstressed prefix ver-. In Dutch, verbs that start with prefixes like be-, ont-, and ver- do not get an extra ge- in their past participle. Notice that vergeten is also an irregular verb where the infinitive and the past participle are the exact same word!
Why do we use ben (am) instead of heb (have) in this sentence?
The verb vergeten (to forget) usually takes zijn (to be) as its helping verb to form the perfect tense. So instead of saying 'I have forgotten', Dutch speakers literally say 'I am forgotten' (Ik ben vergeten).
If I forgot a physical object like a card, can I use heb instead?
Technically, traditional grammar rules say you can use hebben when you forget to bring a physical object. However, in everyday spoken Dutch, people almost always use zijn for forgetting anything, whether it is a fact, an appointment, or your debit card. Using ben here is what you will hear most often and sounds perfectly natural.
Why is vergeten placed at the very end of the sentence?
In Dutch, when you use a perfect tense, the helping verb (ben) takes the second position in the sentence, and the past participle (vergeten) is pushed to the very end. This means any objects, like mijn bankpas, get sandwiched in between them.
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