hebben or zijn? Choosing the perfect-tense auxiliary

The Dutch present perfect is built from a helper verb plus a past participle: Ik heb gewerkt. (I have worked.) The helper is usually hebben (to have), but a set of verbs takes zijn (to be) instead: Zij is naar huis gefietst. (She cycled home.) This page shows how to pick the right one.

Use zijn when the verb describes a movement to a goal or a change of state; use hebben for everything else. Most verbs take hebben, so treat zijn as the special case you learn by heart.

Two groups of verbs take zijn:

• Verbs of movement toward a destination: gaan (to go), komen (to come). Ik ben naar de winkel gegaan. (I went to the shop.)
• Verbs that show a change of state — the subject becomes something new, begins, ends, or dies: worden (to become), beginnen (to begin), gebeuren (to happen), sterven (to die). De film is begonnen. (The film has started.)

A few very common verbs take zijn and are worth memorising as a fixed list:

Notice that zijn is its own past participle-helper: the perfect of zijn is ben ... geweest, not heb ... geweest.

Verbs like lopen (to walk), fietsen (to cycle), rijden (to drive), zwemmen (to swim) and vliegen (to fly) can take either helper. The direction of the action decides.

• A destination or direction is named → zijn: Ik ben naar het station gelopen. (I walked to the station.)
• No destination, just the activity or how long it lasted → hebben: Ik heb twee uur gelopen. (I walked for two hours.)

The same verb can go both ways: Ze heeft de hele middag gefietst (She cycled all afternoon) but Ze is naar Utrecht gefietst (She cycled to Utrecht).

Two kinds of verb keep hebben even when they seem to describe movement or change.

• Transitive verbs — verbs with a direct object (something the action is done to): Ik heb de deur gesloten. (I closed the door.) Compare the same verb without an object, which describes a state: Het café is gesloten. (The café has closed.)
• Reflexive verbs — verbs used with me, je, zich: Ik heb me gewassen. (I washed myself.) Hij heeft zich vergist. (He made a mistake.)

English speakers reach for hebben everywhere, because English uses only have (I have gone, I have become). Watch the zijn-verbs above: Ik ben gegaan, not ik heb gegaan; Hij is geworden, not hij heeft geworden. When you are unsure with a movement verb, ask whether a destination is named — if it is, use zijn.