DutchEvery Dutch learner meets a ship sooner or later: 't kofschip. It is the trick Dutch children learn at school to know whether a regular verb gets -te or -de in the past. If you speak English, soft ketchup may be easier to remember: it has the same letters.
Short answer: take the stem of the verb (werken → werk). Does it end in one of the consonants of 't kofschip or soft ketchup (s, f, t, k, ch, p, and also x)? Then the past is -te: ik werkte, and the past participle ends in -t: gewerkt. Otherwise it is -de: ik woonde, gewoond.
1 Find the stem
Take away -en: werken → werk, wonen → woon (one o is written double now), leven → leef, reizen → reis. Careful: for the ship you look at the letter of the infinitive: leven has a v, reizen a z, and those are not on the ship.
2 The ship decides
| Verb | Stem | Past | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| werken | werk (k) | werkte | gewerkt |
| maken | maak (k) | maakte | gemaakt |
| faxen | fax (x) | faxte | gefaxt |
| wonen | woon (n) | woonde | gewoond |
| leven | leef (v!) | leefde | geleefd |
| reizen | reis (z!) | reisde | gereisd |
The x is not in 't kofschip or soft ketchup, but it belongs with them: it sounds like ks, so it ends in an s.
Tip: some teachers also use 't fokschaap: the same letters, a different picture. Pick the one you remember.
3 Words that are hard to spell
Words from English and French follow the same rule, but they can look strange. The ch in douchen and lunchen sounds like the English sh, not like the Dutch ch in lachen. It still counts as a ch, so you write ik heb gedoucht and we hebben geluncht.
| Verb | Stem | Past | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| douchen | douch (ch) | douchte | gedoucht |
| lunchen | lunch (ch) | lunchte | geluncht |
| coachen | coach (ch) | coachte | gecoacht |
| crashen | crash (sh) | crashte | gecrasht |
| racen | race (c) | racete | geracet |
| mailen | mail (l) | mailde | gemaild |
The sh in crashen and the c in racen are not on the ship as letters, but they sound like an s, so they get -te as well. Mailen ends in an l: not on the ship, so -de.
4 Irregular verbs
The ship only works for regular verbs. Many everyday verbs are irregular and you learn them by heart: zijn → was → geweest, hebben → had → gehad, gaan → ging → gegaan, komen → kwam → gekomen.
Dutch children learn 't kofschip at school, and many adults still mutter it when they write gefietst or gebeurd. You are in good company.
Partner tip Ask about the day before at dinner: Vertel eens, wat deed je gisteren? The learner answers in the past, Ik werkte tot vijf. Ik fietste naar huis. The partner listens only for -te or -de: if it went wrong, say the right form back once, with a smile, and carry on.
Test yourself
Past tense of "fietsen": ik ___
Ik fietste. Stem fiets ends in s: on the ship, so -te.
Past participle of "verhuizen": ik ben ___
Ik ben verhuisd. The infinitive has a z: not on the ship, so -d.
Past participle of "douchen": ik heb ___
Ik heb gedoucht. The stem douch ends in ch: on the ship, so -t.
