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D, t or dt?

Enter one Dutch verb form. We will show whether the spelling is recognised and explain what the form does.

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Two quick rules

Present tense

Use the ik-form with ik and when subject jij/je follows the verb. Add -t with subject-first jij/je, with u (also after the verb) and with a third-person singular subject. Never write a second t after a stem that already ends in t. A stem ending in d plus t gives -dt: jij wordt, word jij?, wordt u?

Past participle

For a regular weak verb, remove -en from the infinitive before applying final spelling changes. If that base ends in a consonant from ’t ex-kofschip (including ch and x), write -t; otherwise -d. Learn irregular forms separately: werken → gewerkt, bestellen → besteld, denken → gedacht.

Commonly confused forms

All selected pairs

Frequently asked questions

When does a Dutch verb end in -dt?

When the stem ends in d and the subject requires -t: jij or hij wordt. With inverted subject jij/je, the t drops (word jij?), but u keeps it (wordt u?).

Can two spellings both be correct?

Yes. Bestelt is a present-tense form and besteld is a past participle. The sentence determines which one you need.

Does an unknown result mean the spelling is wrong?

No. The checker uses a limited selection of verb pairs, so forms outside that dataset may be missing.

Verb forms are derived from English and Dutch Wiktionary via Kaikki/Wiktextract under CC BY-SA 4.0. We filtered, normalised and merged the data.