Schudden

Schudden is a Dutch verb meaning to shake or to tremble. It can describe a physical action, such as shaking an object to loosen dust or to mix something, as well as more figurative or social uses, like waking someone by shaking or greeting someone by shaking hands. The root form appears in both transitive constructions (I shake something) and intransitive ones (the ground shakes).

In standard Dutch, schudden is a regular verb with the following basic forms. Present tense: ik schud, jij schudt, hij schudt; wij schudden; jullie schudden; zij schudden. The past tense is formed as schudde for singular and plural subjects (ik schudde, wij schudden, etc.). The past participle is geschud, used with hebben in perfect tense (ik heb de deken geschud). The verb can also appear in imperative and subordinate clauses, and it can take a prepositional object in phrases like “de stof schudden uit de kleren” to mean shaking off dust.

Common usages include physical shaking of objects (for example, “de fles schudden” to mix contents) and social expressions such as “een hand schudden” (to shake someone’s hand) or “iemand wakker schudden” (to wake someone up by shaking). The sense of trembling or shivering can also be conveyed as “schudden van angst” or “de aarde schudt” (the earth shakes).

Etymologically, schudden is of Germanic origin and has cognates in other West Germanic languages, notably German schütteln, reflecting a shared root for the action of shaking.