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Auxiliary verbs and independent verbs

English version by Bieneke Berendsen :: other languages

A verb that is not an auxiliary verb, is called an independent verb.

In general, a phrase has exactly one independent verb. This verb is used to specify the action of the sentence.

If there are any other verbs, those are auxiliary verbs. These verbs are used to indicate when or how the specified action takes place (presently, in the future, voluntarily, compulsory, possibly, etc.).

The auxiliary verb(s) is in italics, the independent verb bold.

ik eet een broodje	I eat a sandwich
ik zal een broodje eten	I will eat a sandwich
ik zal altijd broodjes blijven eten	I will keep eating sandwiches forever

In the last example, zal (or will) is the auxiliary verb for blijven (or keep), which is in turn an auxiliary verb for eten (or eating). In the second example, zal (or will) is the auxiliary verb for eten (or eat)

It should be clear that an auxiliary verb can also function as an independent verb:

ik wil een ijsje	I want an ice cream
ik zou dat willen	I would like that
ik wil slapen	I want to sleep

The verb willen serves as an independent verb in the first two examples, but it is an auxiliary verb in the last (supporting slapen).

In general, the independent verb follows after the auxiliary verbs. You can also place it before the auxiliary verbs, but this is not always allowed.

Four types of auxiliary verbs

We can distinguish four main types of auxiliary verb constructions:

auxiliary verb + past participle
auxiliary verb + te + infinitive
auxiliary verb + bare infinitive
auxiliary verb + aan het + infinitive

In the following sections, each type will be discussed. Unfortunately, each type has its own sub-types. A lot of reading, but once you have read it all, you know all possible types of auxiliary verbs.

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