Komen (to come) in Dutch

In Brief

Dutch komen means “to come.” Its present-tense forms are ik kom, jij/u komt, hij/zij/het komt, and wij/jullie/zij komen. Learn two especially useful patterns as complete units: uit + place komen for origin and komen + infinitive for coming to do something.

Overview

Komen is one of the most useful Dutch movement verbs. You hear it when people arrange visits, ask about arrival times, invite someone inside, or say where they are from. It is introduced at A1, but it remains important at every level because it also appears in separable verbs and many everyday expressions.

English “come” is a helpful starting point, but translation alone is not enough. In Ik kom uit Canada, Dutch literally uses “I come out of Canada,” but the natural English meaning is “I’m from Canada.” Dutch also says Zij komt eten—literally “She comes eat”—without a word corresponding to English “to.” These patterns are easier to remember as phrases than as word-for-word translations.

The infinitive (the basic dictionary form of a verb) is komen. In the present tense, most forms follow the familiar Dutch pattern of stem, stem + -t, and plural infinitive. The detail that often causes trouble is inversion: jij komt, but kom jij?

How It Works

Present-tense forms

The stem of komen is kom. The singular forms use kom or komt; all plural forms use the full infinitive komen.

Person	Dutch form	English meaning
ik	ik kom	I come / I am coming
jij/je	jij komt / je komt	you come / you are coming
u	u komt	you come / you are coming (formal)
hij	hij komt	he comes / he is coming
zij/ze	zij komt / ze komt	she comes / she is coming
het	het komt	it comes / it is coming
wij/we	wij komen / we komen	we come / we are coming
jullie	jullie komen	you come / you are coming (plural)
zij/ze	zij komen / ze komen	they come / they are coming

Dutch has no separate present progressive equivalent to English “am coming” in this basic pattern. Depending on context, Ik kom nu can mean “I’m coming now,” while Ik kom elke week means “I come every week.” Time words and context provide the distinction.

Statements and questions

In a normal main-clause statement, the subject (the person or thing doing the action) usually comes before the verb:

• Je komt morgen. — “You are coming tomorrow.”
• Mila komt met de trein. — “Mila is coming by train.”

In a yes/no question, the conjugated verb moves before the subject. With informal singular jij/je, the final -t disappears when the verb comes directly before the pronoun:

Statement	Question
Jij komt morgen.	Kom jij morgen?
Je komt ook.	Kom je ook?
U komt morgen.	Komt u morgen?
Hij komt morgen.	Komt hij morgen?

The special loss of -t applies to jij/je, not to u or third-person subjects. If another word separates the verb and jij, use the form required by the actual sentence structure: Wanneer kom jij?

Movement toward a person, place, or situation

Use komen when someone or something moves toward the speaker, listener, meeting point, or place currently in focus:

• Ik kom naar je toe. — “I’m coming to you.”
• De bus komt om tien uur. — “The bus comes/arrives at ten.”
• Kom je naar het feest? — “Are you coming to the party?”

Common combinations include:

Pattern	Main use	Example
komen naar + place/event	destination	We komen naar Amsterdam.
komen bij + person/place	arriving at or visiting	Ik kom bij je.
naar iemand toe komen	movement toward someone	Kom naar me toe.
binnenkomen	enter, come in	Ze komt binnen.
aankomen	arrive	De trein komt aan.

English speakers should not automatically add naar before every destination. Some common adverbs stand alone: Kom binnen (“Come in”), Ik kom thuis (“I’m coming home”), and Kom hier (“Come here”).

Saying where someone is from

For origin, use komen uit + country, city, region, or other place:

• Ik kom uit Nederland. — “I’m from the Netherlands.”
• Zij komt uit Rotterdam. — “She is from Rotterdam.”
• Wij komen uit een klein dorp. — “We come from a small village.”

The usual question is Waar kom je vandaan? (“Where are you from?”). Vandaan points back to a place of origin. A natural answer generally uses uit: Ik kom uit België. You may also hear Waar kom je uit?, especially when the type of origin is already clear, but Waar kom je vandaan? is the safest general phrase to learn first.

Do not use van by itself in the standard nationality/origin pattern. English “from” often corresponds to Dutch uit here.

Komen + infinitive

Komen can be followed directly by another infinitive to say that someone comes in order to do something:

• Zij komt eten. — “She is coming to eat.”
• Mijn broer komt helpen. — “My brother is coming to help.”
• Komen jullie koffie drinken? — “Are you coming for coffee?”

There is no te between the two verbs in this construction. In a main clause, the conjugated form of komen occupies the normal verb position and the second verb goes near the end: Tom komt morgen koken. In a subordinate clause (a clause introduced by a word such as “because”), both verbs appear toward the end: Ik ben blij omdat Tom morgen komt koken.

This construction describes literal or contextually understood movement to perform an activity. It is not a general future marker. Ik kom werken means “I’m coming to work,” not simply “I will work.”

Commands and invitations

The singular imperative (command form) is kom:

• Kom binnen! — “Come in!”
• Kom hier. — “Come here.”
• Kom eens kijken. — “Come and have a look.”

Adding even or eens often makes a request sound more conversational and less abrupt: Kom even zitten (“Come sit down for a moment”). Tone and situation still matter.

Examples in Context

Dutch	English	Note
Ik kom uit Nederland.	I’m from the Netherlands.	Origin with uit
Waar kom je vandaan?	Where are you from?	Standard origin question
Kom je morgen?	Are you coming tomorrow?	Inversion removes the -t
U komt toch ook?	You are coming too, aren’t you?	Formal u keeps komt
Mijn ouders komen om zes uur.	My parents are coming at six.	Plural form komen
De trein komt tien minuten later aan.	The train arrives ten minutes later.	Separable verb aankomen
Zij komt vanavond eten.	She’s coming to eat tonight.	Komen + infinitive
Komen jullie zaterdag helpen?	Are you coming to help on Saturday?	Plural question
Ik kom met de fiets.	I’m coming by bike.	Means of transport with met
Wanneer komt je collega terug?	When is your colleague coming back?	Separable verb terugkomen
Kom alsjeblieft binnen.	Please come in.	Polite invitation
We komen vaak bij onze buren.	We often visit our neighbors.	Repeated visits
De bus komt eraan.	The bus is on its way / is coming.	Common fixed combination
Ik kan niet komen, omdat ik moet werken.	I can’t come because I have to work.	Infinitive after modal kan

Common Mistakes

Keeping the -t before jij/je

• Wrong: Komt je morgen?
• Right: Kom je morgen?
• Why: When informal singular jij/je follows the conjugated verb directly, the second-person -t drops. Compare the statement Je komt morgen.

Dropping the -t with u

• Wrong: Kom u morgen?
• Right: Komt u morgen?
• Why: The inversion rule above belongs to jij/je. Formal u uses komt, including in questions.

Using van for a place of origin

• Wrong: Ik kom van Engeland.
• Right: Ik kom uit Engeland.
• Why: Use uit for where a person is from. Van can describe movement away from a more specific point in other contexts—Ik kom van mijn werk (“I’m coming from work”)—but it is not the standard origin pattern.

Adding te before the second verb

• Wrong: Zij komt te eten. when you mean “She is coming to eat.”
• Right: Zij komt eten.
• Why: In the ordinary movement-purpose construction, komen takes a bare infinitive: no te.

Treating komen as a general future auxiliary

• Wrong idea: Ik kom morgen werken simply means “I will work tomorrow.”
• Right meaning: Ik kom morgen werken means “I’m coming to work tomorrow.”
• Why: The sentence includes the idea of coming to a place or situation. Dutch more often uses the present tense or gaan + infinitive for a general planned future.

Forgetting the full plural form

• Wrong: Wij kom om acht uur.
• Right: Wij komen om acht uur.
• Why: Wij/we, jullie, and plural zij/ze all take komen.

Usage Notes

Jij and u

Use jij/je in ordinary informal conversation and u when the situation calls for formal or respectful address. The choice varies by relationship, region, workplace, and personal preference. The grammar stays clear: Kom je binnen? versus Komt u binnen?

“Come” versus “go” depends on viewpoint

As in English, the choice between Dutch komen and gaan depends partly on the viewpoint. If someone is moving toward the place where the speaker, listener, or shared event is located, komen is natural: Kom je naar mijn huis? If the movement is away from the current viewpoint, gaan is often more suitable: Ik ga naar kantoor. Real conversations can shift the viewpoint, so learn whole exchanges rather than trying to attach one permanent translation to each verb.

Arrival: komen or aankomen

Plain komen can mention a scheduled appearance: De bus komt om negen uur. The separable verb aankomen focuses more explicitly on arrival: De bus komt om negen uur aan. In a main clause, aan separates and moves to the end. In the infinitive, it is one word: aankomen.

Er komt... for something approaching or appearing

Dutch often begins a sentence with er when introducing something new: Er komt een taxi (“A taxi is coming”) or Er komt een probleem aan (“A problem is coming up”). Here er is not translated as a literal location; it helps present new information.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following forms at A1, but you will meet them often.

Past forms

The simple past is irregular: kwam in the singular and kwamen in the plural.

Present	Simple past	English
ik kom	ik kwam	I come / I came
hij komt	hij kwam	he comes / he came
wij komen	wij kwamen	we come / we came

The past participle (a verb form used with an auxiliary to make the perfect tense) is gekomen. For actual movement or arrival, the perfect tense normally uses zijn: Ik ben gisteren gekomen (“I came yesterday” / “I have come”). This is worth learning as the three-part set komen – kwam – gekomen.

Separable verbs built with komen

Many common verbs combine a prefix with komen. They separate in a main clause but remain joined in the infinitive and past participle.

Infinitive	Main-clause example	Meaning
aankomen	De trein komt aan.	to arrive
binnenkomen	Hij komt binnen.	to enter, come in
terugkomen	We komen morgen terug.	to return, come back
meekomen	Kom je mee?	to come along
langskomen	Ik kom later langs.	to stop by

Their participles generally keep the prefix attached: aangekomen, binnengekomen, teruggekomen, meegekomen, and langsgekomen.

Useful idiomatic extensions

Some uses are less literal:

• Hoe kom je daarbij? — “What makes you think that?”
• Dat komt goed. — “It will work out / It’ll be all right.”
• Het komt door het weer. — “It is because of the weather.”
• Aan het einde komen — “to come to an end”

Treat these as expressions. Trying to translate each word separately can hide their actual meaning.

Practice Tips

1. Build a six-line pattern. Say ik kom, jij komt, hij komt, wij komen, jullie komen, zij komen, then turn the jij line into a question: Kom jij? This isolates the most important spelling change.
2. Personalize the three core uses. Write one true sentence about your origin, one about an arrival time, and one with a second activity: Ik kom uit..., Ik kom om..., Ik kom ... helpen/eten/kijken.
3. Listen for separated prefixes. When you hear komt ... aan, komt ... terug, or komt ... mee, connect the two pieces and identify aankomen, terugkomen, or meekomen.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Regular Verbs Present — review Dutch present-tense endings and basic sentence order before focusing on the irregular verb komen.