zijn and hebben: the two essential irregular verbs

Zijn (to be) and hebben (to have) are the two most common verbs in Dutch, and both count as irregular. Zijn is fully irregular — you cannot build its forms from a stem the normal way, so you learn them by heart. Hebben mostly follows the normal pattern but has one odd form in the present (heeft). You use them constantly on their own (Ik ben moe. — I am tired; Ik heb een fiets. — I have a bike) and as helper verbs to build the present perfect (Ik heb gewerkt. — I have worked).

Zijn has its own irregular set: present ben / bent / is / zijn, past was / waren. The past has just two forms — was for the singular, waren for the plural.

The past participle of zijn is geweest: Ik ben in Spanje geweest. (I have been to Spain.) Note that zijn forms its own perfect with ben ... geweest, not heb ... geweest.

The polite u takes a singular verb: u bent (or u is). More on that in the formal u.

Hebben is mostly regular in the present — ik heb, jij hebt, wij / jullie / zij hebben — with one irregular form: heeft for hij / zij / het (the normal pattern would give hebt). The past is had (singular) and hadden (plural).

The past participle of hebben is gehad: We hebben mooi weer gehad. (We have had nice weather.) When jij comes after the verb (in a question), hebt loses its -t: Heb jij tijd? (Do you have time?).

• zijn as a main verb links a subject to a description — a word, an adjective, a place: Zij is dokter. (She is a doctor.) Het is koud. (It is cold.) Ik ben thuis. (I am at home.)
• hebben as a main verb shows possession: Ik heb twee kinderen. (I have two children.) Heb je een pen? (Do you have a pen?)
• hebben is the usual helper verb for the perfect: Ik heb gegeten. (I have eaten.) A set of verbs uses zijn instead — see hebben or zijn?.
• was / waren and had / hadden are the everyday past forms: Ik was ziek. (I was ill.) We hadden geen tijd. (We had no time.)

Dutch uses hebben for several states where English uses to be. You feel hunger, you do not say you are hungry: Ik heb honger. (I am hungry.), Ik heb dorst. (I am thirsty.), Ik heb het koud. (I am cold.), Ik heb gelijk. (I am right.). Age goes the other way — it uses zijn: Ik ben twintig (jaar). (I am twenty.), Hoe oud ben je? (How old are you?). Learn these as fixed phrases and do not translate the English verb directly.