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Wij hebben geen rente ontvangen.

Wij hebben geen rente ontvangen.
We have received no interest.
From Lesson 117:Inseparable verbs in the perfect tense (no ge-)·Dutch

Questions & Answers about Wij hebben geen rente ontvangen.

Why doesn't the past participle ontvangen have a ge- added to it?
Because it starts with the prefix ont-. Inseparable verbs that start with unstressed prefixes like be-, er-, ge-, her-, ont-, and ver- skip the normal ge- prefix when forming their past participle.
Is the past participle ontvangen spelled exactly the same as the infinitive?
Yes! This verb is based on the strong (irregular) verb vangen (to catch), which has the past participle gevangen. When you use the ont- version, you drop the ge-, leaving you with just ontvangen. It happens to look exactly like the dictionary form of the verb.
Why do we use geen here instead of niet?
Because we are negating an indefinite noun (rente). Just like in English where you say 'received no interest', Dutch uses geen to negate a noun without a specific article like de or het. If you wanted to say you didn't receive the interest, you would use niet: Wij hebben de rente niet ontvangen.
Why is ontvangen placed at the very end of the sentence?
This is the standard word order for the Dutch perfect tense. The helping verb (hebben) takes the second position in the sentence, and the past participle (ontvangen) gets pushed all the way to the end.

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