Questions & Answers about Zij had spijt van haar besluit.
I am in the past perfect lesson (had + past participle). Where is the past participle in this sentence?
There isn't one! This sentence is actually in the simple past tense. The word had is just the past tense of hebben (to have), and spijt is a noun meaning "regret", not a verb.
How would I change this sentence into the actual past perfect ("She had regretted her decision")?
Because the expression is spijt hebben (to have regret), you need to use the past participle of hebben, which is gehad. The past perfect version would be: Zij had spijt van haar besluit gehad.
How exactly does the phrase for "to regret" work in Dutch?
Dutch usually doesn't use a single verb for "to regret". Instead, it uses the fixed expression spijt hebben van (literally: "to have regret of"). That is why we use a form of the verb hebben combined with the noun spijt.
Why do we need the word van?
The expression spijt hebben always pairs with the preposition van to show what it is that you regret. While in English you "regret a decision", in Dutch you "have regret of a decision" (spijt hebben van een besluit).
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