Verkochten

Verkochten is the simple past tense form of het Dutch verb verkopen, meaning to sell, used with plural subjects. It denotes a completed action in the past. For example: "Zij verkochten gisteren hun auto" or "Wij verkochten het oude meubilair." It is common in narration, reports, and everyday speech when referring to multiple sellers or multiple items.

Etymology and derivation: Verkochten derives from Middle Dutch vercoopen, a verbal formation built from koopen (to buy) with the prefix ver-, a common Dutch pattern for verbs tied to transactional reversal. The modern form is part of the same Germanic family as related verbs in Dutch and other languages.

Morphology and related forms: The verb verkaufen is irregular in tense. The singular past tense is verkocht (ik verkocht, jij verkocht, hij/zij/het verkocht). The plural past tense is verkochten (wij verkochten, jullie verkochten, zij verkochten). The past participle is verkocht and is used with have or be as in perfect tenses: "Het is verkocht" or "Ik heb het verkocht." While verkocht and verkochten share the same spelling root, they differ in number and in syntactic use.

Usage notes: Verkochten is primarily found in past-tense narration with plural subjects. The related noun is verkoop (sale). The word verkocht also appears as a participle-adjective meaning "sold," especially on signs or labels (Verkocht) indicating an item is no longer available.

See also: Verkoop, Verkopen, Verkocht.