To talk about yesterday in Dutch you need two things: a past participle, and the right helper verb in front of it. Ik heb gewerkt, but ik ben gegaan. Same tense, different helper.
English does not make you choose, so there is nothing to transfer. Luckily there is a pattern, and once you see it you will get most verbs right without memorising lists.
The short answer: most Dutch verbs use hebben in the perfect tense. Use zijn for verbs of movement to a destination (gaan, komen, vertrekken), for a change of state (worden, beginnen, sterven), and for a small group you simply learn: zijn, blijven, gebeuren. If the verb has a direct object, it almost always takes hebben.
Which past tense are we talking about?
Dutch has two past tenses, and this choice belongs to only one of them.
The perfect tense (voltooid tegenwoordige tijd) uses a helper verb plus a participle: Ik heb gewerkt. This is the one Dutch people use most in speech, even for things English would put in the simple past.
The simple past (onvoltooid verleden tijd) is one word: Ik werkte. It has no helper verb, so the question does not arise there.
If you are a beginner, learn the perfect tense first. You can tell almost any story about yesterday with it.
The default is hebben
Start from the assumption that a verb takes hebben. You will be right the large majority of the time.
| Dutch | English |
|---|---|
| Ik heb gewerkt. | I worked, I have worked |
| Wij hebben pizza gegeten. | We ate pizza |
| Zij heeft een auto gekocht. | She bought a car |
| Hij heeft goed geslapen. | He slept well |
The clearest signal is a direct object. If the verb does something to a thing, it takes hebben: you eat something, buy something, read something. The one everyday exception is vergeten: Ik ben mijn sleutels vergeten (I forgot my keys).
When to use zijn
1. Movement from one place to another
Verbs describing a change of location take zijn: gaan (to go), komen (to come), vertrekken (to depart), aankomen (to arrive), vallen (to fall), klimmen (to climb).
- Ik ben naar de supermarkt gegaan.
- De trein is om acht uur vertrokken.
- Zij is gisteren aangekomen.
2. Change of state
Verbs where something becomes different take zijn: worden (to become), beginnen (to begin), stoppen (to stop), groeien (to grow), sterven (to die), veranderen (to change).
- Hij is ziek geworden.
- De les is al begonnen.
- Mijn opa is vorig jaar gestorven.
3. A short list to memorise
A handful of common verbs take zijn without fitting either pattern. There are few enough to simply learn.
| Verb | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| zijn (to be) | Ik ben in Spanje geweest. | I have been to Spain |
| blijven (to stay) | Wij zijn thuis gebleven. | We stayed home |
| gebeuren (to happen) | Wat is er gebeurd? | What happened? |
Zijn is also the helper in the passive: De brief is verstuurd (the letter has been sent).
The verbs that take both, and why it matters
Some verbs of movement take either helper, and the choice changes the meaning. The rule is simple: mention a destination and you use zijn; talk about the activity itself and you use hebben.
| Dutch | What it means |
|---|---|
| Ik heb gefietst. | I did some cycling, the activity |
| Ik ben naar Utrecht gefietst. | I cycled to Utrecht, a destination |
| Wij hebben gezwommen. | We went swimming |
| Wij zijn naar de overkant gezwommen. | We swam to the other side |
| Hij heeft gelopen. | He walked, he did some walking |
| Hij is naar huis gelopen. | He walked home |
This is the most elegant part of the system. The helper verb is not decoration: it tells the listener whether you are describing an activity or a journey.
Building the participle
Choosing the helper is only half the job. You also need the participle.
For regular verbs: ge- plus stem plus -d or -t. Use -t when the stem ends in one of the consonants in the memory word 't kofschip (t, k, f, s, ch, p), and -d otherwise.
| Verb | Stem | Participle |
|---|---|---|
| werken | stem werk, ends in k | gewerkt |
| maken | stem maak, ends in k | gemaakt |
| wonen | stem woon, ends in n | gewoond |
| bellen | stem bel, ends in l | gebeld |
Irregular verbs have to be learned: gaan becomes gegaan, zien becomes gezien, eten becomes gegeten, drinken becomes gedronken, kopen becomes gekocht.
One more detail: verbs starting with be-, ver-, ont-, ge- or her- take no extra ge-. It is Ik heb betaald, not gebetaald. The same goes for verkocht, ontmoet and herhaald.
Where the participle goes in the sentence
The helper verb sits in second position and the participle goes to the very end, which follows the same pattern as everything else in Dutch word order.
- Ik heb gisteren met mijn buurvrouw gesproken.
- Wij zijn vorige week naar Rotterdam gereisd.
In a subordinate clause both verbs go to the end together: Ik denk dat hij al vertrokken is.
The mistakes worth catching early
- Using hebben with gaan. Ik heb gegaan is wrong. It is always ik ben gegaan.
- Forgetting zijn with zijn. The past of ik ben is ik ben geweest, never ik heb geweest.
- Adding ge- to be- and ver- verbs. Gebetaald and geverkocht do not exist.
- Leaving the participle in the middle. Ik heb gekocht een fiets sounds distinctly foreign. The participle goes last.
- Avoiding the perfect tense. Dutch prefers it in conversation. Ik ben naar de markt geweest sounds more natural than Ik ging naar de markt.
Frequently asked questions
When do you use hebben or zijn in Dutch?
Use hebben for most verbs, especially those with a direct object. Use zijn for movement to a destination, for a change of state, and for the small group zijn, blijven and gebeuren.
Is it ik heb geweest or ik ben geweest?
Ik ben geweest. The verb zijn forms its perfect tense with zijn: Ik ben in Spanje geweest.
Why is it ik ben gegaan and not ik heb gegaan?
Gaan describes movement from one place to another, and those verbs take zijn. The same applies to komen, vertrekken and aankomen.
Can a Dutch verb use both hebben and zijn?
Yes. Verbs like fietsen, lopen and zwemmen take hebben for the activity and zijn when a destination is mentioned: Ik heb gefietst against Ik ben naar Utrecht gefietst.
What is 't kofschip?
It is a memory aid for spelling. If the stem of a regular verb ends in t, k, f, s, ch or p, the participle takes -t. Otherwise it takes -d: gewerkt but gewoond.
Which past tense do Dutch people actually use?
In everyday conversation the perfect tense with hebben or zijn is far more common. The simple past appears mainly in writing and with a few verbs such as was, had, kon and wilde.
Where to go from here
Default to hebben, watch for movement and change of state, and learn geweest, gebleven and gebeurd as fixed items. That covers nearly everything you will say about yesterday.
Practise the forms of hebben with our free hebben exercise, and if the past tense is new to you, the A1 course builds it up step by step with the participles you actually need.