Dutch Verb Constructions: zit te lezen, staat te wachten — B1 Dutch Grammar Course, Lesson 11 | My Dutch Journal

Dutch Verb Constructions: zit te lezen, staat te wachten | B1 Dutch, Lesson 11

July 4, 2026

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Welcome to B1 Lesson eleven. In this lesson, you learn about bijzondere werkwoordconstructies — special verb constructions. These are constructions that behave differently from regular verbs, especially when you change the tense. "Ze is de keuken aan het schoonmaken. She is cleaning the kitchen — that is the aan het construction for ongoing actions. Hij zit te lezen." He is sitting reading — that is the position verb construction. Both of these describe something that is happening right now. But they form their tenses in special ways, and by the end of this lesson, you will know exactly how.

Zijn aan het + infinitive — the ongoing action

You already know "zijn aan het from your earlier lessons — it describes an action that is in progress. Ze is de kamer aan het opruimen. She is tidying the room. The structure is: the conjugated form of zijn, then aan het, then the infinitive at the end. In the past tense, zijn becomes was or waren: Ze was de kamer aan het opruimen toen hij belde. She was tidying the room when he called. Now, here is the important B1 insight: do not use heeft with aan het" to form a perfect tense — this is not practised at B1. When you need to refer to a completed past action, use the simple past tense or a regular present perfect construction instead.

Position verb + te + infinitive — what are you doing, and how?

The position verb construction is new at B1. It uses one of four position verbs — zitten, staan, liggen, or lopen — followed by "te and then the infinitive. These position verbs describe how the subject is physically positioned while doing the action. Ze zit te lezen. She is sitting and reading. The zit tells you she is seated; lezen is what she is doing. Hij staat te wachten bij de bushalte. He is standing waiting at the bus stop. De kinderen liggen te slapen. The children are sleeping while lying down. Ze loopt te bellen in de kamer. She is walking around talking on the phone. In English, you would often translate all of these simply as is doing or are doing. The Dutch position verb adds a visual element — you can picture the subject's posture. In the present tense, you conjugate the position verb: ze zit, hij staat, ze liggen, ze loopt."

The key rule: no past participle in the perfect

Here is the key rule for B1. When you form the present perfect of a position verb construction or a modal verb construction, you do NOT use a past participle. Instead, you use two bare infinitives at the end. "Ze zit te lezen — present. Ze heeft zitten lezen — present perfect. Notice: heeft as the auxiliary, then zitten and lezen — both infinitives, no past participle, and the te disappears. Hij staat te wachten becomes hij heeft staan wachten. Ze liggen te slapen becomes ze hebben liggen slapen. The same is true for modal verb constructions: ze moet werken becomes ze heeft moeten werken. Two infinitives, no past participle. Now compare this with Pattern B — verbs that take om te or just te, like beloven, proberen, and beginnen. These DO use a past participle in the perfect. Hij heeft beloofd te bellen. The past participle beloofd is there — and the te bellen comes after it. And beginnen uses zijn: ze is begonnen te studeren. These are two clearly different patterns — Pattern A: no past participle, two infinitives. Pattern B: past participle first, then te" + infinitive.

All tenses — position verb + te + infinitive

Let us see all four tenses for the position verb construction in one table. Using "zitten te lezen — sitting and reading. Present: Ze zit te lezen. Past: Ze zat te lezen. The position verb conjugates to its past form: zit becomes zat. Present perfect: Ze heeft zitten lezen. Heeft as the auxiliary, then both infinitives — zitten and lezen — with no te between them. Past perfect: Ze had zitten lezen. Only the auxiliary shifts from heeft to had. The infinitives stay exactly the same. For reference: staat becomes stond in the past, ligt becomes lag, loopt becomes liep. And in the perfect and past perfect, all of these follow the same pattern: hebben plus two bare infinitives. Ze heeft staan wachten. Ze heeft liggen slapen. Ze heeft lopen bellen."

Tense	Dutch	English
Present	Ze zit te lezen.	She is reading (seated).
Past	Ze zat te lezen.	She was reading (seated).
Present perfect	Ze heeft zitten lezen.	She has been sitting reading.
Past perfect	Ze had zitten lezen.	She had been reading (seated).

Key Takeaways

Four things to hold onto. First: "zijn aan het describes an ongoing action. It works very well in the present and past tense. In this course, do not form a regular perfect with heeft plus aan het; use the past tense or another construction instead. Second: the position verb construction uses zitten, staan, liggen, or lopen, followed by te and an infinitive. The position verb tells you how the subject is positioned; the infinitive tells you what they are doing. Third: in the present perfect, position verb constructions — and modal verb constructions — do not use a past participle. They use two bare infinitives, and the te disappears. Ze heeft zitten lezen — not ze heeft gezeten te lezen, which is not the standard perfect form of this construction. This is Pattern A. Fourth: Pattern B verbs — beloven, proberen, beginnen, and similar — work differently. Their perfect uses the past participle, then te, then the infinitive. Hij heeft beloofd te bellen." Keep these two patterns clearly separate.

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.