Erkende

Erkende is the past tense form of the Dutch verb erkennen, meaning to recognize, acknowledge, admit, or certify. It is used to describe actions completed in the past where someone admitted a fact, identified someone or something, or acknowledged a status or condition. The past participle of erkennen is erkend, which is used with hebben in compound tenses (hij heeft erkend).

Grammatical notes: erken is the present tense (ik erken, jij erkent, hij erkent, wij erkennen, jullie erkennen, zij erkennen). The imperfect past tense uses erkende for singular and erkenden for plural (hij erkende; zij erkenden). The past participle erkend combines with hebben to form perfect tenses (heeft erkend, heeft erkend).

Usage and nuance: erkennen covers a range from acknowledging a fact (to admit a mistake), to recognizing a person’s identity, to officially recognizing a status or right. In contrast, herkennen means to identify someone or something from memory or familiarity, while kennen means to know someone or something. In legal and administrative contexts, erkennen can denote formal acknowledgment by an authority.

Examples: “Tijdens de hoorzitting erkende de minister het bestaan van het probleem.” “Zij erkenden zijn recht op compensatie.” “De overheid erkende de uitslagen pas na verder onderzoek.”

Related terms: erkenning is the noun form meaning recognition or acknowledgment; erkend can appear in adjectival use in certain contexts to denote official recognition. Overall, erken and its past tense erkende are common in formal, legal, and narrative Dutch.