Active and passive voice in Dutch
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Active and passive are not tenses. However, the verbs in the passive and active voice can have all the tenses, for example present simple or past perfect. Active and passive voice is about the structure of the sentence and differ in who is performing the action in the sentence.
Lesson outline
Hide1) Active voice
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Definition and usage of the Dutch active voice
The Dutch active voice is used when the subject in the sentence is performing the action. This form is mainly used in the Dutch language.
Examples
| Active sentence | Explanation | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Ik heb dat boek gelezen. |
| I have read that book. |
| De hond had het stuk vlees opgegeten. |
| The dog had eaten the piece of meat. |
| Het meisje drinkt water. |
| The girl drinks water. |
2) Passive voice
Definition and usage of the Dutch passive voice
The Dutch passive voice is used when the subject in the sentence is not performing the action. In a passive sentence the focus is on the action and not on the subject. The passive is mostly used when it is not important who performed the action of the sentence. The following rule is used to form the passive:
'zijn' / 'worden' + past participle
- 'Worden' is used when the action is still going on at that moment.
- 'Zijn' is used when the action has finished at that moment.
The following steps show the change from an active sentence to a passive sentence:
- The subject becomes the adverbial clause in the sentence, starting with 'door' (by someone or something).
- The direct object becomes the subject in the sentence.
- 'zijn' or ''worden' are added.
Examples
| Passive sentence | Explanation | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Het boek werd door mij gelezen. |
| The book was read by me. |
| Het stuk vlees is door de hond opgegeten. |
| The piece of meat has been eaten by the dog. |
| Het water wordt door het meisje gedronken. |
| The water is drunk by the girl. |
Compare the examples of the passive voice to the examples of the active voice and notice the difference: the subjects of the passive voice become objects in the active voice.
Train your skills with the exercises below!
Exercises
Exercise passive voice in Dutch
Tip: To form the passive: 'zijn' / 'worden' + past participle. The form of 'zijn' / 'worden' is already given.
Het tijdschrift werd door mij . (lezen) (The magazine was read by me.)
De thee wordt door de jongen . (drinken) (The tea is drunk by the boy.)
Het brood is door de vogels. (eten) (The bread has been eaten by the birds.)
De cursus wordt door hen . (maken) (The course is made by them.)
Het water werd door mij . (knoeien) (The water was spilled by me.)
Het boek werd door hem . (schrijven) (The book was written by him.)
De klant wordt . (helpen) (The costumor is being served.)
De was wordt voor haar . (doen) (The laundry is done for her.)
De auto werd door de politie . (controleren) (The car was checked by the police.)
De pen werd vaak . (gebruiken) (The pen had been used often.)
Exercise active and passive voice in Dutch
Solution
Zij hebben dat boek gelezen. (They have read that book.)
Active
Ik ben vanochtend naar het werk gefietst. (This morning I cycled to work.)
Active
Het water wordt door de jongen gedronken. (The water is drunk by the boy.)
Passive
Het lied wordt door de kinderen gezongen. (The song is sung by the children.)
Passive
Ik rijd niet vaak auto. (I do not often drive a car.)
Active
De toets wordt door haar gemaakt. (The test is made by her.)
Passive
Het koekje wordt opgegeten. (The cookie is eaten.)
Passive
Kim werd gepest. (Kim used to be bullied.)
Passive
Wij gaan bij het nieuwe restaurant eten. (We are going to eat at the new restaurant.)
Active
Het boek wordt vaak verkocht. (The book is often sold)
Passive
Exercises
Exercise passive voice in Dutch
Tip: To form the passive: 'zijn' / 'worden' + past participle. The form of 'zijn' / 'worden' is already given.
Het tijdschrift werd door mij . (lezen) (The magazine was read by me.)
De thee wordt door de jongen . (drinken) (The tea is drunk by the boy.)
Het brood is door de vogels. (eten) (The bread has been eaten by the birds.)
De cursus wordt door hen . (maken) (The course is made by them.)
Het water werd door mij . (knoeien) (The water was spilled by me.)
Het boek werd door hem . (schrijven) (The book was written by him.)
De klant wordt . (helpen) (The costumor is being served.)
De was wordt voor haar . (doen) (The laundry is done for her.)
De auto werd door de politie . (controleren) (The car was checked by the police.)
De pen werd vaak . (gebruiken) (The pen had been used often.)
Exercise active and passive voice in Dutch
Solution
Zij hebben dat boek gelezen. (They have read that book.)
Active
Ik ben vanochtend naar het werk gefietst. (This morning I cycled to work.)
Active
Het water wordt door de jongen gedronken. (The water is drunk by the boy.)
Passive
Het lied wordt door de kinderen gezongen. (The song is sung by the children.)
Passive
Ik rijd niet vaak auto. (I do not often drive a car.)
Active
De toets wordt door haar gemaakt. (The test is made by her.)
Passive
Het koekje wordt opgegeten. (The cookie is eaten.)
Passive
Kim werd gepest. (Kim used to be bullied.)
Passive
Wij gaan bij het nieuwe restaurant eten. (We are going to eat at the new restaurant.)
Active
Het boek wordt vaak verkocht. (The book is often sold)
Passive
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Learn to communicate in Dutch from the first lesson! Enjoyable classes with teaching materials tailored to your needs. First 15 min. class for free. My name is Karin and I'm from Holland, but I live on the Canary Islands. I love teaching DUTCH and have done so for more than 20 years. I have a Diploma in English Philology. I also have two methodology degrees: the CELTA (Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults of the University of Cambridge) and the FCTBE (Foundation Certificate for Teachers of Business English of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
I have taught at a Business School and ten companies. In the last two years I've mainly been giving private lessons and I've developed a variety of online self-study DUTCH courses. My schedule is flexible and I adapt myself to the needs and interests of my students so that they reach their objectives in the shortest possible time.
Enjoyable classes, with teaching materials tailored to your needs.
How do the classes work? A class lasts 45 minutes. I'll send you the materials we are going to use in class beforehand so you can print them. After the class I'll send you audios of the notes we made, vocabulary etc. My speciality is communication, from beginner level to advanced. So, you will speak some Dutch in the first class already! Why wait any longer? Let's get started! :-)
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It is my goal to adapt my lessons as much as possible to the wishes of the student. This means that, besides offering regular learning methods, I am open to initiatives like talking about subjects that are of interest to the student, for example reading and discussing articles, watching and discussing educational videos and/or current happenings in the world.
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My name is Anco Peeters,. I am born in The Netherlands and a native speaker of the Dutch language..
I started my career as a schoolteacher and as a gymnastic instructor.
Later I started working in the ICT sector. Now I am a freelance instructor and consultant who teaches mainly networking and telephony.
I am also an NLP Practitioner
My hobbies are: Yoga, traveling, fitness, walking, meeting people
I would love to teach the Dutch language in an informal way with the accent on learning to speak the language. Grammar is also important. We can talk about any topic. I would like to help you making progress and have a lot of experience in creating an individual plan for every student based on your needs
Would love to see you for a trial lesson
Kind regards
Anco
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Hi! I live in Germany since 2014, I live in the Frankfurt am Main area. I teach German to refugees since the beginning of 2017 and I have been teaching Dutch at several language schools, at peoples homes and in-house at several companies. I passed the C1-level Test for German at the Goethe Institut.
It is my goal to adapt my lessons as much as possible to the wishes of the student. This means that, besides offering regular learning methods, I am open to initiatives like talking about subjects that are of interest to the student, for example reading and discussing articles, watching and discussing educational videos and/or current happenings in the world.
I look forward to meeting you online!
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Hello,
I'm offering informal Dutch and English lessons based on conversation and will conduct my lessons for as much as possible in the target language.
I use text, weblinks to tv shows to get us talking and am a fan of the TPRS method.
There's a lot of information on that method online. Basically it's getting to know the structure Dutch and English through simple conversation. (questions about 1 or several sentences on any topic)
I have some useful weblinks to tv shows in Dutch (with subtitles in Dutch) adjusted to your level and the shows are entertaining too. :-)
We can discuss the shows preferably in the target language of course.
I can explain some grammar too if needed and have articles and books ready to read from. This again will be adjusted to your proficiency. But of course if you'd like to focus on a topic which has your interest that is possible as well. This makes it more personal and more fun.
I've been teaching for about a year now on another platform to students from all over the world and really enjoy having the experience again as I used to be a vocal coach back in the days when I attended conservatory in the Netherlands.
I hope to see you here on Co language. :-)
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Less is knowledgeable about teaching. He was positive and encouraging. During the lessons we followed a good routine. Reading aloud and accent corrections. Then review of homework followed by a TPRS exercise. He was always well prepared and punctual. I highly recommend him.
Less J.
My mother language is Dutch and I mainly teach Dutch nowadays.
However, I have a Master's degree in Spanish and I am also fluent in English.
I offer interactive classes, often focused on speaking skills. I am patient and helpful.
My students come from all over the world, all levels and ages.
I look forward to meeting you!
D. T.
Juf Elvira has great intuition and attention towards the student's needs from the first (introduction) lesson and tailors suitable curriculum to meet these needs. The dialogue is made only in Dutch so the mind does not waver between English or Dutch, it stays focused on making the dialogue happen in Dutch, one way or the other. She has good attention to detail and corrects any mistakes, and also gives hints about small nuances, which will help the student grasp the native way of pronouncing some words. Also she has quality material and a good balance of homework, based on the availability of the student. I really enjoyed our first lessons and I believe she will help me advance my Dutch to a level where I can communicate with people easily in my daily life, which is an important long term goal for me.
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Hello, my name is Michel and I'm a Dutch primary school language teacher. I lived in France for 7 years and I worked for an international school that is well known all over France. I moved to Madeira, Portugal and started to work as online Dutch language teacher 4 years ago. Teaching children and adults is my passion aswel as having fun with learning a new language.
My lessons are adapted to your level and due to my job and experience I have acces to teaching methodes to learn you the basics of the Dutch language or to improve your level. I can help you to improve your level of writing and speaking or help you learn your first words and phrases.
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Learn to communicate in Dutch from the first lesson! Enjoyable classes with teaching materials tailored to your needs. First 15 min. class for free. My name is Karin and I'm from Holland, but I live on the Canary Islands. I love teaching DUTCH and have done so for more than 20 years. I have a Diploma in English Philology. I also have two methodology degrees: the CELTA (Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults of the University of Cambridge) and the FCTBE (Foundation Certificate for Teachers of Business English of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
I have taught at a Business School and ten companies. In the last two years I've mainly been giving private lessons and I've developed a variety of online self-study DUTCH courses. My schedule is flexible and I adapt myself to the needs and interests of my students so that they reach their objectives in the shortest possible time.
Enjoyable classes, with teaching materials tailored to your needs.
How do the classes work? A class lasts 45 minutes. I'll send you the materials we are going to use in class beforehand so you can print them. After the class I'll send you audios of the notes we made, vocabulary etc. My speciality is communication, from beginner level to advanced. So, you will speak some Dutch in the first class already! Why wait any longer? Let's get started! :-)
A. B.
I had my first lesson a couple of days ago and everything went super good! Karin was attentive, transmiting her positivism and helping me with every doubt I had. She really focus on teaching how to pronounce and talk a language, so this is really interesting for me, to practise it & be able to use it in my day by day. I really recommend her to everyone willing to learn a new language :)
Hi Alba! Thank you so much for your wonderful review! I enjoyed our class too & I wish you the best of luck with all your future projects :-)
Hi! I live in Germany since 2014, I live in the Frankfurt am Main area. I teach German to refugees since the beginning of 2017 and I have been teaching Dutch at several language schools, at peoples homes and in-house at several companies. I passed the C1-level Test for German at the Goethe Institut.
It is my goal to adapt my lessons as much as possible to the wishes of the student. This means that, besides offering regular learning methods, I am open to initiatives like talking about subjects that are of interest to the student, for example reading and discussing articles, watching and discussing educational videos and/or current happenings in the world.
I look forward to meeting you online!
Q. W.
Marlijn was perfectly on time however we could not agree on a set time which I thought we had. she processed refund instantly, but suggest to agree on a time first before paying.
Marlijn S.
Hello
My name is Anco Peeters,. I am born in The Netherlands and a native speaker of the Dutch language..
I started my career as a schoolteacher and as a gymnastic instructor.
Later I started working in the ICT sector. Now I am a freelance instructor and consultant who teaches mainly networking and telephony.
I am also an NLP Practitioner
My hobbies are: Yoga, traveling, fitness, walking, meeting people
I would love to teach the Dutch language in an informal way with the accent on learning to speak the language. Grammar is also important. We can talk about any topic. I would like to help you making progress and have a lot of experience in creating an individual plan for every student based on your needs
Would love to see you for a trial lesson
Kind regards
Anco
O. M.
Very good teacher. Good in explanations, helps you to understand your own mistakes and correcting it methodically. He speaks simply - you understand everything. Even if you had no experience in talking with native Dutch people before.
Anco P.
-
E. C.
I really enjoyed this lesson! Carina answered some questions I had and helped me in practicing talking. I found it extremely useful.
F S.