Verbs - past (regular)

For regular verbs, the past tense has two possibilities:de(n) or te(n) behind the ik-form of thepresent tense. You have to take -te for singular and-ten for plural if this form ends on a k, f, s, ch,p, t or x. To remember this, I use theword kofschiptaxi, containing all these consonants. Ifthe ik-form does not end on one of those, you take-de for singular and -den for plural.

So for the verb fietsen, having an ik-form thatends on s, which is one of the consonants inkofschiptaxi, it will be:

    singular                  plural1 - ik fietste                wij fietsten2 - jij fietste               jullie fietsten    u fietste                 (u fietste)3 - hij/zij fietste           zij fietsten

And for the verb rennen (to run), not having anik-form that ends on one of the consonants inkofschiptaxi, it will be:

    singular                  plural1 - ik rende                  wij renden2 - jij rende                 jullie renden    u rende                   (u rende)3 - hij/zij rende             zij renden

Two remarks on all that:

1. Sometimes you get double t or double dwhere this looks quite weird even to native speakers. Thepresent forms ik antwoord - wij antwoorden (I/we reply)for example, will be in the past tense ik antwoordde- wij antwoordden, and the past of ik plant -wij planten (I/we plant) becomes 'ik plantte -wij plantten'.
2. Where infinitive forms have a v or z thatbecomes f or s in the ik-form, you muststill think of the original v en z when youchoose between -te(n) or -de(n). And sincev and z are not in kofschiptaxi you get-de(n).