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Dutch irregular verbs
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Although the list of irregular verbs is rather long, the good news is that by far most Dutch irregular verbs have a perfectly regular present tense. Therefore, we will refer to them as partly irregular verbs or strong verbs, as opposed to the 11 completely irregular verbs.

Partly irregular verbs (strong verbs)

If you look at the list of irregular verbs, you can discern a few patterns, which enables you to learn many verbs by memorizing only a few general patterns.

Completely irregular verbs

Each completely irregular verb will be discussed on a separate page. Here, the conjugation of the present, past and perfect of the verb will be outlined.

Willen

Willen (to want) is a perfectly regular verb, with one tiny little extravagancy:

In the third person singular of the present tense, we do not add -t to the stem.

As you read on the page about the regular present tense conjugation, the third person singular is "stem + t".

But instead of hij wilt (stem + t), we write hij wil.

This is such a tiny irregularity, that willen is really regarded as a regular verb. However, it has to be mentioned, so why not mention it here.


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Last updated on May 17, 2007 ::