Future

Verdiepingen. The Dutch system of indicating floors.

The official future tense is formed using the auxiliary zullen + the infinitive

In Dutch this tense is called: de onvoltooid tegenwoordige toekomstige tijd (ottt), the imperfect present future tense. We shall revisit this nomenclature later.

ik vind - I find.

ik zal vinden - I'll find.

But you can also express the future by using a present, if futurity is declared in the sentence by an adverb (like 'tomorrow').

ik vind het wel - I find it.

ik zal het vinden - I'll find it.

ik vind het morgen wel - I'll find it tomorrow

Occasionally, Dutch resorts to the use of gaan:

dat gaat twee weken kosten - that is going to take two weeks.

In both cases the infinitive ends up at the end of the sentence.:

je zult het op de derde verdieping vinden - you will find it on the fourth floor.

Zullen is an irregular verb (It is the cognate of shall):

Conditional or Future-in-past

Its past tense forms what it known as the onvoltooid verleden toekomstige tijd (ovtt), "the imperfect past future tense" that roughly corresponds to the conditional tense in English.

ik zeg - I say

ik zou zeggen - I would say

This tense is also used to express a future tense within the framework of a past narrative:

Hij zal komen

Hij zegt dat hij zal komen

Hij zei gisteren dat hij zou komen - He said yesterday: "I will come"

Infinitives instead of participles. Modal verbs

The verb zullen does not have a past participle, instead its infinitive is used in phrases like:

Ja, ik heb dat zullen doen, maar ik had geen tijd meer.

Yes I had intended to do so, but I ran out of time

Stative verbs: staan, zitten, liggen, lopen

All of these are strong verbs:

Scholars do not agree whether to consider these verbs as auxiliaries or not. Some do consider them aspect auxiliaries, because they often serve to express continuity in combination with the infinitive of other verbs extended with the preposition te:

Ik zit te lezen - I am reading (while on my chair)

Ik loop te denken - I am thinking (while going somewhere)

These verbs also frequently replace to be in impersonal expressions with er:

Er liggen drie boeken op tafel - there are three books (lying) on the table

Er zitten nog drie koekjes in de doos - there are still three cookies (sitting) in the box

Er loopt een goeie film - there is a good movie on.

The perfect of these expressions drop the "te" and use an infinitive to replace the past participle:

Ik heb zitten denken - I have been thinking (on my chair)

We hebben staan bellen - We have been on the phone (while on our feet)

Other verbs taking the extended infinitive

There are other verbs that are followed by the extended infinitive but drop the extension te in the perfect or future tenses.

Recall: "Dat zou ik niet durven zeggen" - I would not dare to say that.

In the present tense durven - to dare does take the extension:

Ik durf te zeggen dat.. - I dare say that..

Other such groepsvormende werkwoorden - verb that form groups are:

beginnen - to begin

(be)horen, dienen - ought, to be expected

the modal verbs /copulas blijken, lijken, schijnen, heten, dunken

Doen: to do

As in English this verb is irregular.

Its role is more restricted than in English, but at times it can be used as an auxiliary that turns an ergative into an active construction:

Het vet stolt - the grease solidifies

De koude doet het vet stollen - the cold makes the grease solidify

Again the perfect has an infinitive:

De koude heeft het vet doen stollen. - the cold has made the grease solidify