Since Paulien Cornelisse released the bestseller 'Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding', there has been more attention paid to the Dutch language. This is not only due to her regular appearances on 'De Wereld Draait Door', but the popularity of the Facebook page 'Taalvoutjes' also contributes to this. While these two media focus on misspelled words or other language errors, other media aim to help you. This ensures your texts are spelled correctly and you have played your cards right.
The Language Shop offers multiple versions of 'The Top Ten of on, lists of ten language-related errors and mistakes that can undermine the message of your text and 'The Green Bookletlists the official spelling of the Dutch language in an actual booklet and on a website.
With these and other tools, how is it possible that writing a completely error-free text is so difficult?
Importance of a well-spelled text
The answer to the question from the previous paragraph is simple: the Dutch language is a difficult language to learn. There are various snags that make Dutch difficult. This is due, among other things, to our national history and our culture, in which we speak various languages 'across borders'. We Dutch are known for our knowledge of foreign languages and were once proclaimed the best foreign language speakers by fellow Europeans.
Error-free text on your website completes the picture. It enhances your website's design and usability, rather than detracting from them. No matter how eye-catching the design may be, if errors in the text accumulate, the chance of a visitor leaving becomes greater than ever.
The base: -d, -t and or -dt
There are various types of spelling errors that are made, as can be seen thanks to the links in the introduction. We give you tips to at least choose the correct ending for verbs and thus make your text stronger. To use the correct ending for verbs, it is important to know which ending to use.
Present tense:
I (make the stem, the verb as short as possible)
He/She/You (the stem + t)
We/you/they (the infinitive)
Past tense:
I (the stem + te/de)
He/she/you (the stem + te/de)
We/you/they (the stem + ten/den)
Past perfect tense: ge + stem + t/d.
If you want to know whether a word takes a -t or a -d in the past perfect tense, we recommend writing the word in the past tense. If that verb ends in a -t in the past tense, the word will also take a -t in the past perfect. If the word is written with a -d in the past tense, it will also be written with a -d at the end in the past perfect. In short: -t and -d remain -t or -d in the past perfect tense as well.
An example with a -t:
- It happens
- It happened
- It has happened
An example with a –d:
- I skate
- I skated
- I went ice skating
Whether a verb is written with -dt depends on the verb stem. If the first-person singular form ends in -d, the second singular form is always written with -dt.
An example with -dt:
- binden
- I think
- He/she/you binds
We Dutch people deal with weak and strong verbs in our language. The weak verbs are conjugated in the past tense, as we described above: with a –d or a –t at the end. The strong verbs are different. For example, the first-person singular form of the verb 'to say' in the past tense is 'ik zei', whereas you would logically expect 'ik zegde'.
Margot Vanderstraeten, Flemish journalist and writer |
A number of conjugations of strong verbs:
- Walk – I walk – I walked – I have walked
- Sing – I sing – I sang – I have sung
- Writing – I write – I wrote – I have written
- To hang – I hang – I hung – I have hung
Your texts spelled correctly
We agree with Margot Vanderstraeten: writing error-free text is not the only step you need to take to write an engaging text. More is needed than just writing the -d's and -t's correctly in your texts. We will return to this in a future post. For now, we leave you with the tips above, which you can apply when writing or proofreading the texts on your website. Do you find the -d's, -t's, and -dt's tricky? Then take contact Contact us for more tips or to have the copy written for your website! We would also love to hear from you if you spot a language error in our texts.