zijn

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /zɛi̯n/

• audio

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Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch sijn, from Old Dutch sīn. The infinitive along with the words is, zij and zijn (present indicative and subjunctive) derive ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”), which had no separate infinitive in Germanic. The modern infinitive was probably back-formed in late Old Dutch from the first-person plural subjunctive sīn (“we be”), since this form had become identical to the infinitive in other verbs during the late Old Dutch period. Compare also German sein, Low German sön.

The original infinitive survives in wezen, from Middle Dutch wesen, from Old Dutch wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, from *h₂wes- (“to reside”). All the forms with initial w- (imperative and past tense) derive from this root.

Finally, the forms ben and bent derive from Proto-Germanic *beuną (“to be, to become”), from *bʰuH- (“to become”), which survives only as relic forms in the West Germanic languages and not at all in the others. Its infinitive and non-singular forms are only attested in (Old) English.

Verb

zijn

1. (intransitive) To be, to exist.

   Zijn of niet zijn, dat is de vraag.

   To be or not to be, that is the question.

   Was je er afgelopen zaterdag ook?

   Were you there too last Saturday?

2. (transitive, copulative) Used to connect a noun to an adjective that describes it.

   De bal is rond.

   The ball is round.

3. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the perfect tense of the active voice of some verbs, together with a past participle.
   Note: The perfect tense of most other verbs is formed using hebben.

   Hij is hier geweest.

   He has been here.

4. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the perfect tense of the passive voice, together with a past participle.
   Note: The imperfect tense passive is formed using worden.

   Ze waren gered.

   They had been saved.

   De muur is geschilderd.

   The wall has been painted.

   De muur zal zijn geschilderd.

   The wall will have been painted.

5. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the continuous forms of various tenses, together with aan het.

   De man was aan het lopen.

   The man was walking.

6. (intransitive) To go, to go on a trip and return.

   Ik ben even naar de dokter.

   I am going to the doctor for a while.

   Ik ben vandaag naar het strand geweest.

   I've been to the beach today.

7. (intransitive, impersonal) Used to indicate weather, temperature or some other general condition.

   Het is erg warm vandaag.

   It is very warm today.

8. (transitive, copulative, mathematics) To equal; used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same.

   Drie keer vijf is vijftien.

   Three times five equals fifteen.

9. (intransitive) To have the next turn in a game.

   Jij bent nu.

   It is your turn now.

Conjugation

Conjugation of zijn (irregular, suppletive)

infinitive	zijn
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	ben	was
2nd person singular	bent	was
2nd person sing. (gij)	zijt	waart
3rd person singular	is	was
plural	zijn	waren
subjunctive sing.1	zij	ware
subjunctive plur.1	zijn	waren
imperative sing.	wees, ben
imperative plur.1	weest, zijt
participles	zijnd	(zijn) geweest
1) Archaic.

Synonyms

• (archaic) wezen
• (obsolete) bennen

Derived terms

• voorzijn
• welzijn

Etymology 2

From Old Dutch sīn (originally a reflexive form), from Proto-Germanic *sīnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *seyno-. Cognate with German sein, Swedish sin. Ultimately a form of the Proto-Indo-European reflexive pronoun *swe, related to Russian себя (sebja), Latin suus, Ancient Greek ἑός (heos) etc.

Determiner

zijn (dependent possessive, independent possessive zijne, contracted form z'n)

1. Third-person singular, masculine and neuter possessive pronoun: his, its.

   Een man en zijn hond. — A man and his dog.

   Een man en z'n hoed. — A man and his hat.

   Een boek en zijn kaft. — A book and its cover.

Declension

Dutch personal pronouns

	subject		object		possessive			reflexive
singular	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	pred.
1st person	ik	'k1	mij	me	mijn	m'n1	mijne	me
2nd person	jij	je	jou	je	jouw	je	jouwe	je
2nd person dialectal	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich
3rd person masculine	hij	ie1	hem	'm1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich
3rd person feminine	zij	ze	haar	'r1, d'r1	haar	'r1, d'r1	hare	zich
3rd person neuter	het	't1	het	't1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich
plural
1st person	wij	we	ons	–	ons, onze2	–	onze	ons
2nd person	jullie	je	jullie	je	jullie	je	–	je
2nd person dialectal	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich
3rd person	zij	ze	hen3, hun4	ze	hun	–	hunne	zich
1) Not as common in written language. 2) Inflected as an adjective.				3) In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). 4) In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative).