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A2 · The imperfect (simple past)

Werkte or woonde: the regular imperfect

stem + -te(n) or -de(n)

Topic 48 of 90 · about 8 minutes

Your goal

You can form the regular past tense with -te(n) and -de(n) and tell how things used to be: Ik werkte, wij woonden.

Vroeger fietste ik elke dag naar school.I used to cycle to school every day.

Daan belde me gisteren op.Daan phoned me yesterday.

We kookten samen en praatten de hele avond.We cooked together and talked all evening.

Done at 8 of 10 · about 4 min

Explainer video

Watch first – then practise

The essentials

RememberParticiple in -t, imperfect in -te; participle in -d, imperfect in -de.

Stem plus -te or -de, in the plural -ten or -den — which letter ’t kofschip tells you.

When: Before the past
The past
Past linked to the present
The present
The future
Completed in the future
The past — Something that happened, finished, and stays where it happened.
Signal words: -te
-de
-ten
-den
toen
vroeger
gisteren

The form

The forms side by side

All the forms in one overview: first what each one stands for, then the form in Dutch, so you can compare them directly.

I worked	ik werkte
you worked	jij werkte
he, she worked	hij, zij werkte
we worked	wij werkten
you (plural) worked	jullie werkten
they worked	zij werkten
stem ending in t, k, f, s, ch, p: -te(n)	maken → maakte, fietsen → fietste
otherwise: -de(n)	wonen → woonde, spelen → speelde
v and z in the infinitive: -de(n)	leven → leefde, reizen → reisde
stem ending in t or d: double letter	wachten → wachtte, branden → brandde

This tense with other verbs

Tap a verb or type your own — the table opens at this tense, in the same colours.

The rules one by one

The form this topic is about

Stem ending in a sound from ’t kofschip: -te.
Ik werkte toen in een bakkerij.I worked in a bakery at that time.
Otherwise -de.
We woonden vroeger in Zwolle.We used to live in Zwolle.
In the plural an -n is added.
De kinderen speelden in de tuin.The children played in the garden.

More rules (2)

With v and z the infinitive counts: -de.
Ze reisde alleen door Italië.She travelled through Italy alone.
A stem ending in t or d still takes the ending.
Hij wachtte een uur op de bus.He waited an hour for the bus.

Example sentences

6 more example sentences

Het regende de hele week.It rained all week.

Ze leefde lang in Antwerpen.She lived in Antwerp for a long time.

Toen ik klein was, hoorde ik elke ochtend de vogels.When I was small, I heard the birds every morning.

Ik maakte elke zondag pannenkoeken.I made pancakes every Sunday.

Ze hoopten op mooi weer.They hoped for good weather.

De trein stopte in elk dorp.The train stopped in every village.

The trap English speakers fall into

Watch out

English spells both endings “-ed”, so there is no spelling choice to make at home. In Dutch there is, and the habit is to use one ending for everything: woonte, speelte. You can even hear this mistake, because -de is pronounced with a voiced [d].

Wrong:We woonten drie jaar in Leiden.

Right:We woonden drie jaar in Leiden.

Lesson

The full explanation

Read it all · about 1 min

You build the regular imperfect from the stem: werk + -te → werkte, woon + -de → woonde. In the singular there is only one form for all persons — as in English “I worked, you worked, he worked”: ik werkte, jij werkte, hij werkte. In the plural an -n is added: wij werkten, zij woonden.

Whether it is -te or -de is decided by the same rule as for the participle: if the stem ends in one of the sounds in ’t kofschip (t, k, f, s, ch, p) it is -te; otherwise -de. If you know the participle you know the imperfect: gewerkt – werkte, gewoond – woonde.

This is where English speakers have to learn something new. English has one spelling, “-ed”, which you pronounce as /t/ after a voiceless sound (“worked”) and as /d/ after a voiced one (“lived”). Dutch uses the very same principle but writes it out. So the sound you would naturally make is a good guide: werkteis heard with [t]woondewith [d] When the stem ends in t or d a double letter appears: wachten → wachtte, branden → brandde. You write it even if you hardly hear it.

A closer look

Why you hear -de and not -d

At the end of a word Dutch turns every voiced consonant voiceless: gewoond sounds like [ɣəʋoːnt]. English does not do this (“lived” keeps its d). In the imperfect the d stands between two sounds, and there it stays voiced. That is why the imperfect is the best check on the participle: if you hear woonde, you know that gewoond is written with a d.

Exceptions and special cases2

Exception
When a verb is strong or irregular
then there is no -te or -de, but another vowel: lopen – liep.
Ik liep naar huis.I walked home.
Why? These verbs have a topic of their own.
Exception
When a loanword ends in x
then it takes -te: faxen – faxte.
Hij faxte het formulier.He faxed the form.
Why? x sounds like ks, which is voiceless.

Worth knowing2

Worth knowing
One singular for all
In the imperfect Dutch no longer tells the persons of the singular apart: ik, jij, u, hij — all werkte. That is simpler than the present, where jij werkt and ik werk differ. English speakers will find it familiar: the English past has one form for everybody too.
Jij werkte en ik kookte.You worked and I cooked.
Worth knowing
Double letters that you write
With zetten and praten the t of the stem meets the t of the ending: zet + te → zette, praat + te → praatte. Both are written with tt. If you build the stem cleanly you spell it right automatically.
Ze praatten urenlang.They talked for hours.

The verbs on this page, in every form: wonen · werken · fietsen · lopen · wachten · regenen · bellen · koken