zijn

Dutch

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch sijn, from Old Dutch sīn. The infinitive zijn along with the words is and zij (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 sien.

The original infinitive survives in wezen, from Middle Dutch wesen, from Old Dutch wesan, from Proto-West Germanic *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 attested in (Old) English, Frisian and a number of Dutch dialects.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /zɛi̯n/
  • audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: zijn
  • Rhymes: -ɛi̯n

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 or, in archaic style, with a present participle.
    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 be, to equal, to total, to amount to; used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same.
    Drie keer vijf is vijftien.
    Three times five is fifteen.
Inflection
  • Generally, the infinitive wezen, the present participle wezend and the present subjunctive weze and wezen are also used. While the subjunctive is considered archaic, it persists in some fixed expressions such as als ware ("as if [it] were").
  • Zijn has special forms for the pronominal imperatives of u and jullie. Thus, weest u!, wezen jullie!, rather than the regular bent u!, zijn jullie!, which are less common. The simple imperative is wees in all cases. In Belgium the singular imperative zij is also used.
Conjugation of zijn (irregular, suppletive)
infinitive zijn
past singular was
past participle geweest
infinitive zijn
gerund zijn n
present tense past tense
1st person singular benwas
2nd person sing. (jij) bentwas
2nd person sing. (u) bent, iswas
2nd person sing. (gij) zijtwaart
3rd person singular iswas
plural zijnwaren
subjunctive sing.1 zijware
subjunctive plur.1 zijnwaren
imperative sing. wees, ben
imperative plur.1 weest, zijt
participles zijndgeweest
1) Archaic.
Synonyms
  • (limited usage in standard Dutch) wezen
  • (obsolete in standard Dutch) bennen
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Negerhollands: si

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch sijn, from Old Dutch sīn (originally a reflexive form), from Proto-West Germanic *sīn, 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. Compare Russian себя (sebja), Latin suus, Ancient Greek ἑός (heós), etc.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /zɛi̯n/ (stressed)
  • IPA(key): /zən/ (unstressed; may be spelled z'n)
  • audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: zijn
  • Rhymes: -ɛi̯n

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.
Inflection
Dutch personal pronouns
subject object possessive reflexive genitive5
singular full unstr. full unstr. full unstr. pred.
1st person ik 'k1 mij me mijn m'n1 mijne me mijner, mijns
2nd person jij je jou je jouw je jouwe je jouwer, jouws
2nd person archaic or regiolectal gij ge u – uw – uwe u uwer, uws
2nd person formal u – u – uw – uwe zich uwer, uws
3rd person masculine hij ie1 hem 'm1 zijn z'n1 zijne zich zijner, zijns
3rd person feminine zij ze haar h'r1, 'r1, d'r1 haar h'r1, 'r1, d'r1 hare zich harer, haars
3rd person neuter het 't1 het 't1 zijn z'n1 zijne zich zijner, zijns
plural
1st person wij we ons – ons, onze2 – onze ons onzer, onzes
2nd person jullie je jullie je jullie je – je –
2nd person archaic or regiolectal6 gij ge u – uw – uwe u uwer, uws
2nd person formal u – u – uw – uwe zich uwer, uws
3rd person zij ze hen3, hun4 ze hun – hunne zich hunner, huns
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).		 5) Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions.
6) To differentiate from the singular gij, and in a similar vein to "you lot" or "you guys" in English, it is common to use gijlui ("you people") or gijlieden ("you people") or one of their contracted variants, and their corresponding objects, possessives and reflexives, in the plural.
Descendants

Middle Dutch

Determiner

zijn

  1. Alternative spelling of sijn
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