Table of contents INTRODUCTION TO DUTCH GRAMMAR 7 Learning Dutch grammar............................................................................................ 7 Using this reference .................................................................................................... 7 SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION 8 The Dutch alphabet ............................................................................................................... 9 The Letter IJ.............................................................................................................. 10 Syllables .............................................................................................................................. 11 Four syllable rules..................................................................................................... 11 The combination ‘ch’................................................................................................ 13 Word division into syllables: Prefixes and suffixes.................................................. 14 Dieresis: Breaking up a word between two vowels .................................................. 15 Long vowels........................................................................................................................ 16 Double vowels .......................................................................................................... 16 Open single vowels................................................................................................... 17 Vowel combinations ................................................................................................. 18 Short vowels........................................................................................................................ 21 Figuring out whether a vowel is short or long .......................................................... 21 Pronouncing short vowels......................................................................................... 21 Vowels preceding ‘ch’ .............................................................................................. 22 The letter ‘e’........................................................................................................................ 23 The ‘mute e’ (or ‘schwa’) ......................................................................................... 23 Double ee .................................................................................................................. 24 Maintaining vowel length ................................................................................................... 25 Keeping vowels long................................................................................................. 25 Keeping vowels short................................................................................................ 26 Consonants .......................................................................................................................... 27 Consonant combinations........................................................................................... 30 Voiced and unvoiced consonants.............................................................................. 30 Irregular pronunciation........................................................................................................ 32 Accents and apostrophes..................................................................................................... 34 Accent aigu ............................................................................................................... 34 Apostrophe................................................................................................................ 36 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 38 DUTCH VERBS 39 Conjugating regular verbs ................................................................................................... 40 The verb stem............................................................................................................ 41 Stem rule 1................................................................................................................ 41 Stem rule 2................................................................................................................ 42 Stem rule 3................................................................................................................ 43 Stem rule 4................................................................................................................ 43 Conjugation of the simple present tense ................................................................... 44 Using the simple present tense.................................................................................. 46 T and D verbs............................................................................................................ 48 Conjugation of the simple past tense ........................................................................ 49 Using the simple past tense....................................................................................... 51 The past participle..................................................................................................... 53 Conjugation of the present perfect tense................................................................... 54 Using the present perfect tense ................................................................................. 55 Conjugation of the pluperfect tense .......................................................................... 56 Using the pluperfect.................................................................................................. 57 Conjugation of the simple future tense ..................................................................... 57 Using the simple future............................................................................................. 58 Conjugation of the future perfect tense..................................................................... 60 Using the future perfect tense ................................................................................... 61 Conjugation of the conditional tense (or ‘past future tense’).................................... 62 Using the conditional tense....................................................................................... 63 Conjugation of the conditional perfect (or ‘past future perfect’).............................. 65 Using the conditional perfect .................................................................................... 66 Summarizing the regular verb conjugations ............................................................. 68 Other conjugations .............................................................................................................. 70 The aan het continuous............................................................................................. 70 The perfect tense of the aan het continuous ............................................................. 72 The te-continuous...................................................................................................... 73 Passive voice............................................................................................................. 74 The imperative .......................................................................................................... 75 The subjunctive......................................................................................................... 77 The verb as an adjective: Present participle and ‘verbable’...................................... 78 Gerund: The verb as a noun ...................................................................................... 80 Summary................................................................................................................... 80 Irregular verbs ..................................................................................................................... 82 Strong verbs (partly irregular) .................................................................................. 82 Completely irregular verbs ....................................................................................... 83 Zijn............................................................................................................................ 84 Hebben...................................................................................................................... 85 Zullen ........................................................................................................................ 86 Kunnen...................................................................................................................... 86 Komen ....................................................................................................................... 87 Mogen ....................................................................................................................... 88 Gaan, slaan, staan, zien, and doen ........................................................................... 88 Auxiliary verbs.................................................................................................................... 93 Independent verbs ..................................................................................................... 93 Auxiliary