How to form the Dutch tenses is A2 and B1 material. This page is about something else: which tense do you choose? Two tenses both talk about the past. The choice depends on what you are doing. Are you stating a fact? Or are you telling a story?
The tenses at a glance
Textbooks sometimes use Latin names. They are in the table too. They mean the same thing.
| Tense | Example | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Present | ik woon (I live) | now, or something still going on |
| Perfect (perfectum) | ik heb gewoond (I have lived) | a fact from the past |
| Simple past (imperfectum) | ik woonde (I lived) | a story, or how something was |
| Past perfect (plusquamperfectum) | ik had gewoond (I had lived) | something that happened even earlier |
| Future with zullen | ik zal wonen (I will live) | later, or a promise |
A fact or a story?
This is the core of the rule. The perfect states a fact. It is finished and it still matters now. The simple past describes how something was. It also tells what happened, one thing after another.
Perfect: a fact
- Ik heb mijn sleutels verloren. (I have lost my keys, so I cannot get in.)
- Heb je dat gezien? (Did you see that?)
- One thing that is done.
Simple past: a story
- Het was koud en het regende. (It was cold and raining.)
- Vroeger woonde ik in Spanje. (I used to live in Spain.)
- A scene, or events in a row.
A story: open with the perfect
Telling a longer story? Start with one sentence in the perfect. It says what the story is about. Then tell the story itself in the simple past. That is how a story normally sounds in Dutch.
How it sounds
- Ik heb gisteren een ongeluk gezien.perfect: what is this about? (I saw an accident yesterday.)
- Ik fietste naar mijn werk. Het regende hard.simple past: the story starts (I was cycling to work. It was raining hard.)
- Een auto remde te laat en botste tegen een paal.simple past: what happened (A car braked too late and hit a pole.)
- Gelukkig was er niemand gewond.simple past: how it ended (Luckily nobody was hurt.)
Was, had, kon, moest: usually the simple past
With zijn (to be), hebben (to have) and modal verbs, you usually choose the simple past. Even when it happened only once. You are describing how things were, what you could do or what you had to do.
| Verb | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| zijn | Ik was gisteren ziek. | I was ill yesterday. |
| hebben | We hadden geen tijd. | We had no time. |
| kunnen | Ik kon niet komen. | I could not come. |
| moeten | Hij moest werken. | He had to work. |
| willen | Zij wilde niet mee. | She did not want to come along. |
The perfect is also possible. Then you state a fact: Ik ben in Parijs geweest (I have been to Paris). You say that you were there once. You are not telling a story.
What happened even earlier?
Sometimes a story mentions something that happened before it. For that you use the past perfect: had or was plus a past participle. Onderweg kwam ik een vriend tegen. Ik had hem jaren niet gezien (I had not seen him for years).
Something about now or later
- Still going on? Use the present, often with al: Ik woon hier al drie jaar (I have lived here for three years). English uses a past form here. Dutch does not.
- About later, or a promise? Use zullen: Ik zal die dag nooit vergeten (I will never forget that day).
- A general truth stays in the present: Hij vertelde dat water bij 100 graden kookt. (He said water boils at 100 degrees.)