Zijn (to be) in Dutch

In Brief

The Dutch verb zijn means “to be.” Its present-tense forms are ik ben, jij/u bent, hij/zij/het is, and wij/jullie/zij zijn. In a question with informal jij/je, use ben jij/je—not bent jij/je.

Overview

Zijn is an irregular verb: its forms do not follow the ordinary pattern used by verbs such as werken (“to work”). You therefore need to learn ben, bent, is, and zijn as a small set. This is one of the first verb paradigms (a complete set of forms) introduced at A1, because it is essential for introductions and everyday descriptions.

Dutch uses zijn to identify and describe people and things, state a profession or nationality, give a location, and talk about time and weather. It often corresponds directly to English “be”: De winkel is open means “The shop is open.” There are nevertheless a few important differences. Dutch normally has no indefinite article before an unmodified profession—Ik ben student, not Ik ben een student—and the informal question form is Ben je...?, without the -t found in je bent.

The subject (the person or thing the sentence is about) may be a pronoun such as ik, jij, or wij, or a noun phrase such as mijn broer or de kinderen. Unlike some languages, Dutch normally states the subject: Ik ben moe, not simply Ben moe.

How It Works

Present-tense forms

Person	Dutch form	English
1st person singular	ik ben	I am
2nd person singular, informal	jij/je bent	you are
2nd person singular, formal	u bent	you are
3rd person singular	hij/zij/ze/het is	he/she/it is
1st person plural	wij/we zijn	we are
2nd person plural	jullie zijn	you are
3rd person plural	zij/ze zijn	they are

The full forms jij, zij, and wij can carry stress or contrast. Their shorter partners je, ze, and we are extremely common in neutral speech: We zijn thuis (“We are home”). Both sets take the same verb form.

Zij can mean either “she” or “they.” The verb removes the ambiguity: zij is means “she is,” while zij zijn means “they are.” Context and pronunciation also help in speech.

Statements and the verb-second rule

In an ordinary main clause, the conjugated verb (the verb carrying person and tense) occupies the second grammatical position:

Pattern	Example	Meaning
subject + zijn + rest	Ik ben vandaag vrij.	I am off today.
time + zijn + subject + rest	Vandaag ben ik vrij.	Today I am off.
place + zijn + subject + rest	In de keuken is het warm.	It is warm in the kitchen.

“Second position” does not necessarily mean the second written word. Mijn nieuwe collega is one unit, so Mijn nieuwe collega is aardig still follows the rule.

Yes-or-no questions

Put the verb before the subject to make a yes-or-no question:

Statement	Question
Ik ben te vroeg.	Ben ik te vroeg?
Jij bent klaar.	Ben jij klaar?
U bent meneer De Vries.	Bent u meneer De Vries?
Zij is thuis.	Is zij thuis?
Jullie zijn moe.	Zijn jullie moe?

The special point is informal jij/je: the -t disappears when the verb comes immediately before it. Compare Jij bent laat with Ben jij laat? Formal u keeps the form bent: Bent u klaar? This difference is worth learning as a complete pair rather than as an abstract rule.

A question word comes first, followed by the verb and then the subject: Waar ben je? (“Where are you?”), Wie is dat? (“Who is that?”), and Waarom zijn jullie hier? (“Why are you here?”).

Negation with niet

Use niet (“not”) to deny a description, identity, location, or complete statement:

• Ik ben niet moe. — I am not tired.
• Hij is niet de manager. — He is not the manager.
• We zijn vandaag niet thuis. — We are not home today.
• Dat is niet duur. — That is not expensive.

With an indefinite noun, Dutch often uses geen (“no/not a”) instead: Zij is geen arts (“She is not a doctor”) and Dat is geen probleem (“That is not a problem”). Think of geen as negating the presence or category of a noun, while niet negates most other information.

Identity, profession, nationality, and description

For identity, Dutch can place a noun after zijn: Dat is Noor (“That is Noor”) or Hij is mijn buurman (“He is my neighbour”).

With an unmodified profession, role, religion, or similar category, Dutch commonly omits the article that English requires:

• Ik ben student. — I am a student.
• Mijn zus is arts. — My sister is a doctor.
• Zij is voorzitter. — She is the chair.

An article becomes natural when the noun has an added description or when you classify one person among others: Hij is een goede arts (“He is a good doctor”) and Zij is een collega van mij (“She is a colleague of mine”).

Nationalities may be expressed with an adjective or a noun. Ik ben Nederlands means “I am Dutch”; Ik ben Nederlander means “I am a Dutch person.” Many nationality adjectives and names are capitalized in Dutch, including Nederlands and Nederlander.

After zijn, an adjective usually has no extra -e ending: De kamer is klein, Het huis is groot, De kinderen zijn stil. This is a predicative adjective—an adjective used after a linking verb to describe the subject. Compare het grote huis, where the adjective stands before the noun and does have an ending.

Time, weather, and location

Dutch often uses het is where English uses “it is”:

• Het is drie uur. — It is three o’clock.
• Het is maandag. — It is Monday.
• Het is koud. — It is cold.
• Het is mooi weer. — The weather is nice.

For location, zijn is also straightforward: De sleutels zijn op tafel (“The keys are on the table”). Dutch commonly says Ik ben thuis for “I am home/at home”; no preposition is needed before thuis.

Examples in Context

Dutch	English	Note
Ik ben student.	I am a student.	Unmodified profession; no article
Zij is lerares.	She is a teacher.	Third-person singular
Wij zijn Nederlanders.	We are Dutch.	Plural nationality noun
Het is mooi weer.	The weather is nice.	Impersonal het is
Ben je morgen thuis?	Are you home tomorrow?	Informal question; no -t
Bent u de nieuwe directeur?	Are you the new director?	Formal u keeps bent
Mijn ouders zijn in Rotterdam.	My parents are in Rotterdam.	Plural noun subject
Vandaag ben ik erg druk.	I am very busy today.	Time first, then verb and subject
De koffie is nog warm.	The coffee is still warm.	Description with an adjective
Mijn broer is geen arts.	My brother is not a doctor.	geen negates a profession
Waarom zijn jullie zo stil?	Why are you all so quiet?	Question word + verb + subject
Dat is een goed idee.	That is a good idea.	Identification with a noun phrase
We zijn niet te laat.	We are not too late.	Negation with niet
Zij zijn mijn nieuwe buren.	They are my new neighbours.	zij zijn means “they are”
Als ik thuis ben, bel ik je.	When I am home, I’ll call you.	ben moves to the end of the subordinate clause

Common Mistakes

Keeping bent before informal jij/je

• Wrong: Bent jij klaar?
• Right: Ben jij klaar?
• Why: Inversion with informal jij/je uses ben. Formal u is different: Bent u klaar?

Using is with a plural subject

• Wrong: De kinderen is thuis.
• Right: De kinderen zijn thuis.
• Why: A plural subject takes zijn, even when English pronunciation makes “is” and “’s” easy to overgeneralize.

Adding an article before every profession

• Less natural for a simple job statement: Ik ben een student.
• Natural: Ik ben student.
• Why: Dutch usually omits een before an unmodified profession or role. Keep the article when the noun is modified: Ik ben een gemotiveerde student.

Giving a predicative adjective an -e ending

• Wrong: Het huis is grote.
• Right: Het huis is groot.
• Why: An adjective after zijn normally has no ending. Before the noun, the form can be het grote huis.

Dropping the subject

• Wrong: Ben moe.
• Right: Ik ben moe.
• Why: Dutch generally requires an explicit subject, unlike languages that regularly leave subject pronouns unspoken.

Choosing niet where Dutch needs geen

• Wrong: Zij is niet dokter.
• Right: Zij is geen dokter.
• Why: Use geen to negate an indefinite profession or category. Use niet with an adjective: Zij is niet ziek.

Usage Notes

Jij/je versus u: Jij and je are informal singular “you.” U is the polite form and can address one or more people, though plural u can sound formal. Use jullie for ordinary plural “you.” In much everyday Dutch, colleagues and strangers may move to je relatively quickly, but institutions, customer communication, and explicitly respectful situations still use u. Follow the form used by the other person when unsure.

Full and reduced pronouns: Jij bent mijn collega can contrast “you” with somebody else; neutral speech often has Je bent mijn collega. Likewise, we zijn and ze zijn are more conversational than fully stressed wij zijn and zij zijn. The verb does not change.

Pronunciation: In ordinary speech, zijn may sound closer to “zain” than its spelling suggests, and unstressed pronouns can be very short. Learn whole phrases such as Hoe is het?, Waar ben je?, and We zijn er so that the forms remain recognizable at natural speed.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following points at A1, but zijn continues to play several major grammatical roles.

Past and perfect forms

The simple past is also irregular:

Person	Simple past	Example
singular	was	Ik was gisteren ziek. — I was ill yesterday.
plural	waren	We waren op vakantie. — We were on holiday.

The past participle (a verb form used in perfect tenses) is geweest. Its perfect tense uses zijn itself as the auxiliary (helping verb): Ik ben in België geweest means “I have been to Belgium.” The verb at the end may be far from the conjugated form: Wij zijn daar nog nooit geweest (“We have never been there”).

Subordinate clauses

In a subordinate clause—a clause introduced by words such as omdat (“because”) or als (“when/if”)—the conjugated verb normally moves toward the end:

• Ik blijf thuis omdat ik ziek ben. — I am staying home because I am ill.
• Als de winkel open is, kopen we brood. — If the shop is open, we will buy bread.

English keeps “am/is” near the subject, so this Dutch word order needs deliberate practice.

Auxiliary and passive uses

Zijn is an auxiliary in the perfect tense of various verbs, especially verbs expressing a change or a movement from one state or place to another: Hij is vertrokken (“He has left”) and Het is veranderd (“It has changed”). Which verbs select zijn is a later topic and must often be learned with the verb.

It also helps describe the resulting state of a passive construction: De deur is gesloten can mean “The door is closed.” Dutch commonly contrasts a process with worden and a result with zijn: De deur wordt gesloten (“The door is being closed”) versus De deur is gesloten (“The door is closed/has been closed”).

Commands and fixed expressions

The imperative (command form) is wees: Wees voorzichtig! (“Be careful!”). The plural or formal form weest survives in elevated, religious, or old-fashioned language but is not the ordinary beginner choice. You may also encounter fixed expressions such as Het zij zo (“So be it”), where zij is an old subjunctive form, not the pronoun “she/they.”

Finally, zijn is also the possessive word “his”: zijn fiets means “his bicycle.” Position and sentence structure distinguish it from the verb: Zijn fiets is nieuw contains possessive zijn first and the verb is later.

Practice Tips

1. Learn in contrasting pairs. Say jij bent—ben jij?, u bent—bent u?, and zij is—zij zijn. This targets the forms most likely to be confused.
2. Build a short daily introduction. Include identity, profession, nationality, mood, and location: Ik ben Sam. Ik ben student. Ik ben Engels. Ik ben moe. Ik ben thuis. Then rewrite it for hij, wij, and zij.
3. Transform each sentence three ways. Start with Je bent druk, make the question Ben je druk?, and then negate it: Je bent niet druk. This practices conjugation, inversion, and negation together.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Subject Pronouns — learn ik, jij/je, u, hij/zij/het, wij/we, jullie, and zij/ze before matching them with verb forms.
• Next step: Er (introductory) — use er is and er zijn to introduce something: “there is” and “there are.”
• Later connection: Passive Voice — understand how zijn can describe the state or result of a passive action.