zeggen

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈzɛɣə(n)/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: zeg‧gen
  • Rhymes: -ɛɣən

Etymology 1

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.)

Verb

zeggen

  1. (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.
Conjugation

The irregular past tense is used in the Netherlands, while the weak past forms are used primarily in Flanders. An archaic form of the past tense zei is zeide.

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.
Derived terms
adjectives
nouns
verbs
Descendants
  • Afrikaans: sê
  • Javindo: seg, seggen, sèè
  • Jersey Dutch: sääxxe
  • Petjo: sehhen

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

zeggen

  1. plural of zegge
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