Kleden

Kleden is a Dutch verb meaning to clothe or to dress. It is used transitively to indicate dressing someone or something, for example: zij kleedt haar zoon aan (she dresses her son). It can also be used reflexively to describe getting dressed oneself, as in zij kleedt zich aan (she dresses herself). In everyday language, speakers often prefer the more common expressions aankleden (to dress someone or to dress up) and zich aankleden (to get dressed).

Etymology and related terms: the verb kleden is derived from the noun kleed, which means garment or clothing. Related words include kleed (garment), kleding (clothes), and the German Kleid, all sharing a common heritage in the Germanic language family. The word pairings kleden/kleed/kleding appear across Dutch and closely related languages with similar meanings.

Usage and forms: kleden belongs to a standard Dutch verb class and forms its tenses by regular patterns, with a stem that changes in the past tense and a past participle used with auxiliary hebben or zijn in different constructions. The past tense of kleden is kleedde, and the past participle is gekleed. When used with the separable prefix aan-, the related verb aankleden has the past participle aangekleed, as in wij hebben ons aangekleed. In sentences, the habitual structure is ik kleed, jij kleedt, hij kleedt, wij kleden, jullie kleden, zij kleden.

See also: kleding (clothes), kleed (garment), aankleden (to dress someone or to dress up), zich aankleden (to get dressed).