Breakdown of Ik heb gisteravond tv gekeken.
hebben
to have
kijken
to watch
gisteravond
yesterday evening
de tv
the TV
Questions & Answers about Ik heb gisteravond tv gekeken.
What is the dictionary form of gekeken?
The dictionary form (infinitive) is kijken (to look or to watch). It is an irregular verb, which is why the ij vowel changes to an e to make the past participle gekeken. It follows the common irregular pattern of adding ge- at the beginning and -en at the end.
I learned that kijken usually needs the word naar (to). Why is it missing here?
You are right that looking at a specific object usually requires naar (for example: ik kijk naar de kat). However, watching TV is a fixed everyday activity in Dutch, simply called tv kijken. Just like in English, you do not need an extra preposition here.
Why is gekeken at the very end of the sentence?
This is the standard word order for the present perfect tense in Dutch. The helper verb heb takes the second spot in the sentence, and it pushes the past participle (gekeken) all the way to the very end.
How is the word gisteravond formed?
It is a combination of gisteren (yesterday) and avond (evening). When combining them, the Dutch drop the -en from gisteren to make the new word flow better. You can do the same to make gistermorgen (yesterday morning).
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