zeggen - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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From Middle Dutch seggen, from Old Dutch *seggen, from Proto-West Germanic *saggjan. The irregular past tense is a common Ingvaeonic development of the northern dialects, seen also in brein and zeil. (In an unrelated, later development the same also happened in Middle High German sagen.)
zeggen
- (transitive) to say, tell
Als je niets beters te zeggen hebt, zeg dan niets.
- If you have nothing better to say, then say nothing.
Ik zei het je toch!
- I told you so!
Ik heb het tegen hem gezegd.
- I told him.
The irregular past tense is used in the Netherlands, while the weak past forms are used primarily in Flanders.
Conjugation of zeggen (weak, irregular) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
infinitive | zeggen | |||
past singular | zei, zegde | |||
past participle | gezegd | |||
infinitive | zeggen | |||
gerund | zeggen n | |||
present tense | past tense | |||
1st person singular | zeg | zei, zegde | ||
2nd person sing. (jij) | zegt, zeg2 | zei, zegde | ||
2nd person sing. (u) | zegt | zei, zegde | ||
2nd person sing. (gij) | zegt | zeidt, zegde | ||
3rd person singular | zegt | zei, zegde | ||
plural | zeggen | zeiden, zegden | ||
subjunctive sing.1 | zegge | zeide, zegde | ||
subjunctive plur.1 | zeggen | zeiden, zegden | ||
imperative sing. | zeg | |||
imperative plur.1 | zegt | |||
participles | zeggend | gezegd | ||
1) Archaic. 2) In case of inversion. |
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
zeggen