The Dutch Double Infinitive: wil leren zwemmen — B1 Dutch Grammar Course, Lesson 10 | My Dutch Journal

The Dutch Double Infinitive: wil leren zwemmen | B1 Dutch, Lesson 10

July 4, 2026

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Welcome to B1 Lesson ten. In this lesson, you learn about the dubbele infinitief — the double infinitive. In Dutch, some sentences end with not one infinitive but two. "Ze wil haar fiets laten repareren. She wants to have her bicycle repaired. At the end of the sentence you have two infinitives: laten and repareren. Kun je me komen helpen? Can you come and help me? Two infinitives again: komen and helpen. This is not a coincidence — there is a clear pattern behind it. By the end of this lesson, you will recognise and form double infinitives in two main patterns: Pattern one starts with a finite modal verb, followed by two infinitives at the end. Pattern two starts with a finite te-verb, followed by te and then two infinitives. Note: this lesson focuses on verb chains in main clauses. The perfect-tense pattern — heeft moeten werken" — is a different construction and is not the focus here.

Two verb groups — you already know these

You already know that Dutch verbs fall into two groups when it comes to the infinitive. Group one verbs take a bare infinitive — no "te. Modal verbs like moeten, mogen, willen, kunnen, and zullen all belong here. So do gaan, laten, blijven, horen, zien, komen, leren, and helpen. Ze wil fietsen. She wants to cycle — no te after wil. Group two verbs take te before the infinitive. Proberen, vergeten, beloven, beginnen, hopen — these all take te. Ze probeert te fietsen. She tries to cycle. This is revision — you learned this in A2. Two small notes before we move on. First: leren in Group one can mean learn to on your own — Ze leert fietsen — but it can also mean teach someone to — Ze leert haar kind fietsen. You will see both uses in this lesson. Second: beginnen also commonly combines with met in everyday Dutch — hij begint met koken is natural. In this lesson we practise the te pattern: hij begint te koken." Now, at B1, we combine the two groups.

Pattern 1 — Modal + inf 1 + inf 2

Here is Pattern one. The modal verb is the finite verb — it is in position two and carries the person and tense. The two infinitives go to the very end of the main clause, in order. "Ze wil haar fiets laten repareren. She wants to have her bicycle repaired. Wil is the finite modal — position two. Laten is the first infinitive — it comes from Group one and takes another infinitive. Repareren is the second infinitive — the action that actually happens. Hij moet nog leren koken. He still needs to learn to cook. Moet is the modal; leren and koken are the two infinitives at the end. Kun je me komen helpen? Can you come and help me? Kan is the finite verb; komen and helpen follow at the end. We kunnen de vogels horen zingen. We can hear the birds singing. Kunnen is the finite verb; horen and zingen both go to the end. Mag ik je helpen koken? May I help you cook? Mag is the modal; helpen and koken" at the end. The rule: modal in position two, both infinitives at the very end.

Where does extra information go?

When you add extra information to a sentence with a double infinitive — a time word, an object, or negation — it goes between the finite modal and the infinitive chain. In a main clause, the infinitives always stay at the very end. "Ze wil morgen haar fiets laten repareren. She wants to have her bicycle repaired tomorrow. Morgen goes between wil and the infinitives. Kun je me vanavond komen helpen? The time word vanavond goes between kan and the infinitives. Ze wil haar fiets niet laten repareren. She does not want to have her bicycle repaired. Niet goes before the infinitives, not after. Hij mag zijn vader helpen koken. The person being helped — zijn vader" — goes between the modal and the infinitives. This applies to everything that would normally go in the middle of the sentence: objects, adverbs, negation. In the main clause, the infinitives are always the last words.

Pattern 2 — Te-verb + te + inf 1 + inf 2

Pattern two uses a Group two verb as the finite verb — a verb that takes "te before its infinitive. Now, that infinitive is a Group one verb, which itself takes another infinitive. The result is: te-verb (finite) + te + infinitive 1 + infinitive 2. Ze probeert te leren fietsen. She tries to learn to cycle. Probeert is the finite verb. Te appears once. Then leren — the first infinitive from Group one. Then fietsen — the second infinitive. Hij vergeet te komen eten. He forgets to come and eat. Vergeet is the finite verb, te appears once, and komen plus eten follow. One important point: when the first infinitive is a bridge verb like leren, komen, or helpen, te appears once — before that first infinitive only. There is no second te before the second infinitive. Ze probeert te leren fietsen — not te leren te fietsen. Only one te" in the chain.

Double infinitive in the future

In the future, the double infinitive works exactly the same way. Whether you use "zullen or gaan as the future auxiliary, the two infinitives still come at the end — nothing changes in the infinitive chain. Ze wil haar fiets laten repareren becomes Ze zal haar fiets laten repareren. The finite verb changes from wil to zal — the infinitives laten and repareren stay unchanged at the end. Hij moet leren koken becomes Hij gaat leren koken. Gaan replaces the modal, and the infinitives follow in the same order. Ze zal naar het concert komen luisteren. She will come and listen to the concert. Hij gaat haar helpen verhuizen. He is going to help her move. One small note: in standard Netherlands Dutch, gaan is not used with another modal verb as the first infinitive. For that, use zullen — hij zal kunnen zwemmen is the natural form, not hij gaat kunnen zwemmen."

Key Takeaways

Let us review. Three things to hold onto from this lesson. First: there are two patterns for double infinitives, and in both of them the two infinitives come at the very end of the main clause. Pattern one: a finite modal verb, followed by a Group one verb, followed by any second infinitive. "Ze wil laten repareren. Pattern two: a finite Group two verb, then te, then a Group one verb, then a second infinitive. Ze probeert te leren fietsen. Second: word order. In a main clause, the finite verb comes in position two. Extra information — time words, objects, negation — goes in the middle. Both infinitives come last. Third: te appears once in Pattern two — before the first infinitive only. The most useful Group one bridge verbs to know for B1 are: laten, leren, komen, horen, zien, helpen, and gaan". One last tip: if a sentence starts to feel too complicated — keep it simple. Break it into two shorter sentences. It is perfectly natural Dutch to do so.

Practice What You Learned

Reading about grammar is step one — using it is what makes it stick. In My Dutch Journal Academy you can watch the full video of this lesson, do interactive exercises that check your answers instantly, and practise all the vocabulary from the B1 course.