10 Comments
"I have paid" translates to "Ik heb betaald". "I have danced translates to "Ik heb gedanst". etc. So why does "I have slept" translate to "Ik heb geslapen", and not "Ik heb geslaapd/geslaapt"? This is really confusing. More than six months of Duolingo and I still don't get this past perfect tense..
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Slapen is irregular. There is a lot of irregular verbs in Dutch, just like in English, and you should memorize them.
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One trick with regular verbs is T'kofschip. If the verb in the present singular end with one of the letters in t'kofschip, then the passed will use a t, otherwise a d. For example, spelen-> speel -> gespeeld.
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Vikram, English is the same here. There are two kinds of verbs, so-called "weak" and ""strong":
I talk -> I talked -> I have talked (weak)
I sing -> I sang -> I have sung (strong)
In Dutch the weak verbs end with -d or -t. The strong verbs (which also change vowels) end in -en.
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i have the caffeine patch, each patch stands for twelve cups of coffee. you can stay awake for days with no side effects. AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! sorry. (movie quote)
Is 'in' the right preposition? I think it should be 'I have not slept for four days.'.
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Dag ends with one consonant. So dagen makes it a long "a" sound. Why is this the case when say kat is katten to preserve the short "a" sound?
Because languages don't always follow the same patterns. Keep in mind that languages evolve, they are not made up.
Similar examples are, why:
- Men not mans?
- Children not childs?
- Mice not mouses?
