Dutch separable verbs: how they split, with 50 common ones

How Dutch separable verbs split

A separable verb (scheidbaar werkwoord in Dutch) is made of a small word and a verb: op and bellen make opbellen, to call; aan and komen make aankomen, to arrive. The small word is usually one of aan, af, in, mee, na, op, terug, toe, uit, weg, but it can also be an adjective (dichtdoen, schoonmaken, vasthouden) or a noun (deelnemen, plaatsvinden). Where the two parts go depends on where the verb stands in the sentence.

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The table is rule 3 of Dutch word order in disguise. In a main clause only the conjugated part of the verb takes second place, and the small word stays behind at the end, like a second verb. As soon as the verb itself stands at the end, or is not conjugated at all, the two parts meet again (with te in between, as below).

In a main clause: the small word goes to the end

The small word goes to the end of the main clause, after the object, the time and the place: Ik bel mijn moeder elke zondag om zeven uur op. Only a phrase with a preposition or a sub-clause can still follow it: Ik nodig je uit voor mijn verjaardag. Ik bel je op als ik thuis ben. Questions and commands split the same way: Hoe laat sta je op? Doe de deur dicht.

For a reader this matters most. When a sentence ends in aan, af, op, uit, mee or terug, that word belongs to the verb, and the two together can mean something else: geven is to give, opgeven to give up, uitgeven to spend. So in Ze geeft veel geld uit, look up uitgeven. After er or waar, a small word at the end can also be a preposition (Waar wacht je op?); see Dutch prepositions.

• Op 10 mei 1940 valt Duitsland Nederland aan. On 10 May 1940 Germany attacks the Netherlands. (vallen is to fall, aanvallen to attack; Geschiedenis van Nederland)

In a sub-clause: together at the end

A sub-clause sends the verb to the end (after dat, omdat, als, toen and the other words on Dutch compound sentences), and there it meets its small word again. The two are written as one word: dat ze me opbelt, toen hij opstond, never dat ze me op belt. One sentence can show both orders.

• Ze stond zo snel op dat haar stoel omviel. She stood up so fast that her chair fell over. (opstaan split in the main clause, omvallen whole at the end of the dat-clause; Het pakje voor nummer 12)

With two verbs at the end of a sub-clause you will also read the small word in front of both: dat hij me morgen zal opbellen, but also dat hij me morgen op zal bellen. Both occur in good Dutch; the first, with the two parts together, is the safe one to write.

After a modal verb, and with te

After kunnen, moeten, mogen, willen, zullen and gaan, the separable verb is an infinitive at the end, in one word: Ik wil je morgen opbellen. Ik ga morgen vroeg opstaan.

With te, the te goes between the two parts, in the same place as the ge- of the participle, and Dutch writes three words: op te bellen, mee te nemen, uit te checken. You meet it after om, proberen, vergeten, hoeven and beginnen: Vergeet je paraplu niet mee te nemen. Je hoeft me niet op te bellen.

The past participle: ge- in the middle

The participle of a separable verb puts ge- between the two parts: op and gebeld make opgebeld. The verb part keeps the participle it has on its own, so a strong verb stays strong. The forms of the strong verbs are on Dutch irregular verbs, and the -t or -d of the regular ones on Dutch verb conjugation. The participle is one word, also where two equal letters meet: teruggekomen, weggegooid.

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The simple past works the same way: the past of the verb on its own, split in a main clause and together in a sub-clause. Nemen has nam, so Ze nam een paraplu mee, and toen ze een paraplu meenam.

No extra ge- after be- or ver-

In some separable verbs the verb part starts with an unstressed prefix of its own, such as be- or ver-. That prefix keeps ge- out, as it does in betalen, betaald, and the verb still splits. Voorbereiden (to prepare) gives Ik bereid de les voor and Ik heb de les voorbereid. With ver-, uitverkopen (to sell out) gives uitverkocht; with be- again, uitbetalen (to pay out) gives uitbetaald and aanbevelen (to recommend) aanbevolen.

• Toch bereidt de vereniging de tocht elk jaar voor, alsof de tocht morgen kan beginnen. Still, the association prepares the race every year, as if it could start tomorrow. (voorbereiden split; its participle is voorbereid; De Elfstedentocht)

Hebben or zijn

A separable verb chooses its auxiliary by the rule on Dutch verb conjugation: zijn for movement to a place and for a change, hebben for the rest. That is not always the auxiliary of the verb on its own. Staan takes hebben (Ik heb een uur gestaan), but opstaan is a change, from lying or sitting to standing, and takes zijn: Ik ben om zes uur opgestaan. Most verbs with komen and gaan keep zijn (is aangekomen, is teruggegaan), and tegenkomen (to run into) takes it even with an object: Ik ben je buurman tegengekomen.

• Mijn trein heeft een uur stilgestaan, en toen moesten we eruit, bij een klein station. My train stood still for an hour, and then we had to get out, at a small station. (stilstaan: no change, so hebben; Storing)

Separable or not: how to tell

Listen to the stress. A separable verb is stressed on its small word: opbellen on op, aankomen on aan, uitgaan on uit, and its participle too: opgebeld, on op. When the first part is a prefix that never splits, the stress is on the verb part: betalen on ta, vertellen on tel.

Six prefixes never split

Be-, ge-, her-, ont-, ver- and er- are never stressed and never split. The verb stays in one piece in every position, and its participle gets no extra ge-: Ik betaal. Ik heb betaald. Ze vertelt een verhaal. Ze heeft een verhaal verteld. The same goes for gebruiken, gebruikt; herhalen, herhaald; ontmoeten, ontmoet; erkennen, erkend.

Most other small words split in nearly every verb: aan, af, bij, in, mee, na, op, tegen, terug, toe, uit, weg, and the adjectives and nouns that stand in front of a verb (dicht, open, schoon, vast; deel, plaats).

Door, over, om, onder and voor: the stress decides

Five common small words can go either way (a few others, such as achter, mis and vol, do so in a handful of verbs). With the stress on the small word, the verb splits and its participle has ge- in the middle; with the stress on the verb part, it never splits and has no ge-. Some pairs are even spelled the same and differ only in stress and meaning.

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Overleggen is a pair of its own: stressed on leg it means to consult and does not split (ik heb overlegd); stressed on over it means to hand in a document, in office Dutch, and splits (overgelegd). Common verbs with these words that never split: overleven (to survive, overleefd), overtuigen (to convince, overtuigd), onderzoeken (to investigate, onderzocht) and voorspellen (to predict, voorspeld). When you are not sure, look the verb up in the Woordenlijst: ge- in the middle of the participle means the verb splits; a past written in two words, such as bereidde voor, means the same.

Verbs that look separable but are not

A few verbs look like a small word plus a verb but behave as one verb, with ge- in front: glimlachen (to smile: hij glimlacht, hij glimlachte, hij heeft geglimlacht), stofzuigen (to vacuum: ik stofzuig, ik heb gestofzuigd) and voetballen (to play soccer: we voetballen, we hebben gevoetbald). They are stressed on the first part, like a separable verb, so here the stress does not help; but their first part is not one of the small words above, and it never moves to the end.

50 common Dutch separable verbs

The 50 verbs below are everyday ones, many of them from the free texts on this site, in alphabetical order. The example shows the verb split, in a main clause, a question or a command; the last column gives the perfect, with hebben or zijn and the participle. Sixteen take zijn: the verbs with gaan and komen (tegenkomen too, even with an object), instappen and uitstappen, opstaan, and meevallen and tegenvallen, which keep the zijn of vallen.

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Typical mistakes

• Not Ik opbel je morgen but Ik bel je morgen op: in a main clause the small word goes to the end.
• Not omdat ik je bel op but omdat ik je opbel: in a sub-clause the two parts stand together, as one word.
• Not geopbeld or gebeld op but opgebeld: ge- goes in the middle.
• Not te opbellen but op te bellen: te goes in the middle too.
• Not Ik heb opgestaan but Ik ben opgestaan, and not Ik heb hem tegengekomen but Ik ben hem tegengekomen.
• Not voorgebereid but voorbereid: no ge- after be-, also inside a separable verb.
• Not Ik heb met mijn baas overgelegd but Ik heb met mijn baas overlegd: overleggen, to consult, does not split.

See it in a text

Sentences from the free texts on this site, word for word. Each one shows a separable verb in a different position.

• Luca kijkt om. Luca looks around. (omkijken: the small word at the end of a main clause. De deur, A1)
• Maar nu is de deur achter hem dichtgevallen. But now the door has fallen shut behind him. (dichtvallen: ge- in the middle, and zijn, because the door goes from open to shut. De deur, A1)
• Waarom deed hij dan niet open als Tim aanbelde? So why did he not open the door when Tim rang the bell? (opendoen split in the main clause, aanbellen in one word at the end of the als-clause. Het pakje voor nummer 12, A2)
• Achter hem riep een vrouw: ‘Meneer, vergeet niet uit te checken!’ Behind him a woman called out: “Sir, don’t forget to check out.” (te between uit and checken. Saldo te laag, A2)
• ‘Kan ik met een nieuwe foto terugkomen?’ vraagt ze. “Can I come back with a new photo?” she asks. (after the modal kan, terugkomen is one word at the end. De pasfoto, A2)
• Op de trap kwam hij Lars tegen, met een doos boeken. On the stairs he ran into Lars, who was carrying a box of books. (tegenkomen split, in the simple past. De borg, B1)

Read next

Het pakje voor nummer 12 is a free A2 story told in the past, about a woman who keeps taking in packages for a neighbor who is simply at home, with a glossary. A story about doors and doorbells is full of separable verbs: deed de deur meteen weer dicht and belde Tim bij Lena aan split, and hoe Samir meteen opendeed and de enige die hier ooit aanbelt have the verb whole at the end of a sub-clause. Read it once for the story, then again and find the infinitive of every verb that splits. More stories are on the page of free A2 texts.

For a whole book at A2, there is Dracula, the first volume of the Dutch Readers series: Bram Stoker’s novel in eight short chapters of easy Dutch, with a glossary after every chapter.