Every sentence comes from this course’s word lists or grammar topics. The verb form is highlighted, and the line below says which tense and person it is.
Koop jij het brood of zal ik het doen?Are you buying the bread, or shall I?
Ze kochten vorig jaar een oud huis aan de rand van het dorp.Last year they bought an old house on the edge of the village.
Waar heb je die mooie schoenen gekocht?Where did you buy those lovely shoes?
Mistakes English speakers often make
WrongIk kopte gisteren een nieuwe jas.
RightIk kocht gisteren een nieuwe jas.
kopen is like English “buy, bought”: the past has a different vowel and an extra consonant, kocht, and the participle is gekocht. kopte does not exist.
A common trap
WrongIk heb een nieuwe jas gekoopt.
RightIk heb een nieuwe jas gekocht.
English is a good guide, but not everywhere. English “bought” and Dutch gekocht look alike, and gekocht means “bought”, not “cooked” (that is gekookt). The trap is that kopen looks like a regular verb, so learners write gekoopt; but like “buy – bought” it changes its vowel. Likewise “asked” and gevraagd are both weak, while “laughed” is weak but gelachen is strong.
The forms are calculated from the rules of the language — twice, in two independent ways — and checked against every hand-written form in this course. The example sentences are the course’s own.