The past tense and 't kofschip
Do you write werkte or werkde? Look at the last letter of the stem: if it appears in 't kofschip, the past tense ends in -te, and otherwise in -de.
Why
Yesterday you fietste to school and speelde football. Why does one verb get -te and the other -de?
For most verbs you add -te or -de to the stem in the past tense (verleden tijd). What you hear helps a little, but not always: think of leefde or verhuisde.
A memory trick solves it: 't kofschip. If the last letter of the stem is in that word, you write -te. Otherwise -de.
See it
Choose a verb. The sails of the ship show the letters t, k, f, s, ch and p. If the last letter of the stem lights up, the ship sails with -te. Otherwise it becomes -de.
Description of the picture
A sailing ship with the letters t, k, f, s, ch and p on its sails. With werken the k lights up and werkte appears. With wonen nothing lights up and woonde appears.
Get it
First find the stem (stam): the form that goes with ik. For werken that is werk, for wonen it is woon.
Look at the last letter of the stem. If it is a t, k, f, s, ch or p, the consonants of 't kofschip, you write -te: werkte, fietste, lachte. With all other letters you write -de: woonde, speelde.
Watch out with verbs that have a v or a z, such as leven and verhuizen. The stem is leef and verhuis, but you look at the whole verb. The v and the z are not in 't kofschip, so leefde and verhuisde.
If the stem already ends in t or d, you simply add the ending. That gives you the same letter twice: praatte, landde.
In the plural an n is added: wij werkten, zij woonden.
Strong verbs do not follow 't kofschip. Their vowel changes: lopen, liep. You learn those by heart.
Stem + te if the last letter of the stem is in 't kofschip (t, k, f, s, ch, p). Otherwise stem + de. With v and z, look at the whole verb.
Worked example
Write the past tense: ik … (verhuizen) and wij … (praten).
The stem of verhuizen is verhuis. The whole verb has a z, and that is not in 't kofschip.
ik verhuisde
The stem of praten is praat. The t is in 't kofschip, so -te. The stem already ends in t, so you get two t's.
It is plural: an n is added.
wij praatten
- Answer
ik verhuisde and wij praatten.
Do it
Pick a level. You get a new exercise each time, checked straight away.
Pitfalls
Wrong: Ik
leeftein Gent.The stem leef ends in an f, but the whole verb leven has a v. That is not in 't kofschip.
Right: Ik leefde in Gent.
Wrong: We
praatede hele avond.You add -te to the stem praat. It already ends in a t, so you get two t's. And in the plural an n belongs at the end too.
Right: We praatten de hele avond.
Wrong: Ik
looptenaar huis.Lopen is a strong verb: the vowel changes and 't kofschip does not apply.
Right: Ik liep naar huis.
In real life
- A report on the school trip: We wandelden door Brugge en daarna fietsten we terug naar het station.
- A message to your gran: Ik speelde gisteren mijn eerste match, en we wonnen.
- In a diary or the class blog: Vorige week verhuisde onze juf naar Leuven.
History
A kofschip was a sailing ship with two masts. The word contains exactly the consonants t, k, f, s, ch and p, and that is why it became a memory trick. Some schools use 't fokschaap or soft ketchup: other words with the same letters.
At the table
Together, think of three things you did today and write them in the Dutch past tense. Which ones get -te and which get -de?
A question to talk about together, for parents and children. There is no wrong answer.