d, t or dt? Writing the Dutch verb ending right

One of the most common spelling slips in Dutch is the present-tense verb ending: is it ik word or ik wordt, hij vindt or hij vind? The trouble is that a d and a t at the end of a word sound identical, so your ear cannot settle it. A short test can.

In the present tense, the ik-form is the bare stem (the verb without its -en ending) and takes no letter; jij, hij, zij, het and u add -t to that stem. When the stem already ends in -d, adding -t gives the double ending -dt.

1. Find the stem with the ik-form: worden → ik word, vinden → ik vind. That is your starting point, with no ending.
2. For jij / hij / zij / het / u, add -t: hij loopt, hij vindt. If the stem ends in -d, you now have -dt: word + t → wordt.
3. Never add a -d. The present tense only ever adds -t, so hij verandert (he changes), never hij veranderd.

The catch is that you cannot hear the -t on a d-stem: word and wordt sound the same. So swap in a verb where the ending is audible — lopen (to walk) is the classic. Ask what lopen would do in the same slot: if lopen takes -t, so does your verb.

• Hij ___ het leuk (vinden)? Test with lopen: hij loopt has a clear -t, so it is hij vindt.
• Ik ___ het leuk? Ik loop has no -t, so it is ik vind.

One reversal: when jij or je comes right after the verb — in a question or after another word first — the -t drops. So jij wordt but word jij?, and je vindt but vind je? This only happens with jij/je, never with u (wordt u?). More cases and the full picture are on the -dt rule page and in the simple present tense.

The most frequent error is ik wordt. The ik-form is always the bare stem, so it is ik word, ik vind, ik antwoord — no -t. The -t belongs to jij/hij/u.

The second trap is the past tense and the past participle, where a -d really does appear: het is veranderd (it has changed), ik werd (I became). Those are different forms; the ik = stem, jij/hij = stem + t test here is for the present tense only. The reason a final -d is written d and not t, even though it sounds like t, is explained in spelling a final -d or -t.

Finally, a stem that already ends in -t takes no second -t: zitten → ik zit → hij zit (not zitt), because a Dutch syllable never ends in two of the same consonant.