← Back to overview

Gewerkt or gewerkd? Remember soft ketchup

By Iskander · October 26, 2026 · 2 min read · 4 exercises

"Ik heb gisteren hard gewerkd." You can't hear the difference, but you can see it. A regular Dutch past participle ends in -t or -d, and one phrase tells you which: soft ketchup.

The rule

Take off -en and look at the last letter.werken → werk, spelen → speel

Is that letter in soft ketchup? Then -t.s, f, t, k, ch, p

werken → gewerktk is in ketchup: worked

koken → gekooktk: cooked

fietsen → gefietsts is in soft: cycled

Is it not in there? Then -d.every other letter

spelen → gespeeldl is not in soft ketchup: played

wonen → gewoondn: lived

leren → geleerdr: learned

Why soft ketchup? Because you already know the letters: s, f, t, k, ch, p. Say the phrase and you have the whole list. The same rule works for the simple past: werkte, speelde.

Multiple choice

Try it

Choose the right participle. You'll see right away whether it's correct.

Gisteren heb ik de hele dag ___.

We hebben tien jaar in Utrecht ___.

Two things to watch. Does the stem already end in t or d? Then nothing is added: praten becomes gepraat, antwoorden becomes geantwoord. And with verbs that have a v or a z before -en, look at that v or z, not at the f or s you write in the stem: leven becomes geleefd, reizen becomes gereisd.

Fill in

Type the participle

Fill in the past participle of the verb in brackets.

Ik heb gisteren lang . (fietsen)

Ze heeft het eten . (koken)

We hebben veel . (leren)

Ze zijn naar Spanje . (reizen)

One more thing: the participle goes at the end of the sentence. Everything else you add, the time, the place, what exactly you did, comes before it.

Sentence builder

Put the sentence in the right order

Click the words in the order of the sentence. Click a word in the sentence to put it back.

Dictation

Listen and type

Listen as often as you like and type the sentence you hear.

0 of 8 correct0 of 8 done

In a lesson you do twelve of these per hour, together with your teacher, and you see where it goes wrong.

This is what a Braials lesson looks like. These are the same blocks as in a real lesson. Want to know your level?

Take the free level test Free trial lesson

Know someone who could use this?