Verbs - perfect (regular)

For the perfect tense, you need to make a pastparticiple (ge-form). You do that like this:

• take the present tense ik-form and add ge-to it,
• place a -t at the end when theik-form ends on one of the consonants inkofschiptaxi and add -d when it doesn't.

So for fietsen it will be ik hebgefietst, and for rennen it will beik heb gerend.

Three remarks on that:

1. To choose by listening between -t and -dfor a past participle, in fact you could listen if the pastgets -te(n) or -de(n), which is easier to hear:the difference between just -d or -t at the end,as in past participles, is not heard in Dutch (they'reboth pronounced as t).
2. The past participles of verbs that have an infinitiveformstarting with ge-, be-, ve-, re-, or ont- do notget ge-. So for betalen (to pay) it will beik heb betaald and not gebetaald.
3. For the perfect tense you mostly use hebben, likeyou use 'to have' in English. But there are - a bit more thanin English - verbs or situations where you use zijn (tobe). For example when you use a verb that means 'to gosomewhere' and a direction is indicated. So it would beik heb in het park gefietst (I have been cycling in thepark - no direction) but ik ben naar het stationgefietst (I have cycled to the station - cleardirection).