bereidde

Bereidde is a form of the Dutch verb bereiden, meaning to prepare or to cook. It functions as the simple past tense form, used to describe a completed action in the past. In standard Dutch, sentences such as "Gisteren bereidde hij het avondeten" translate to "Yesterday he prepared the dinner."

The word has a close relationship to the past participle, which is "bereid" and is used with auxiliary hebben to form perfect tenses, for example "Hij heeft het eten bereid." Consequently, bereidde and bereid are related but serve different grammatical purposes: bereidde marks past tense, while bereid acts as a participle or adjective meaning "prepared."

Geographically, bereidde is used in both the Netherlands and Flanders, though regional style and register can influence its frequency in speech and writing. It is considered a regular form within the Dutch verb conjugation pattern for regular verbs ending in -eren.

In lexical terms, bereidde is not a separate word with its own independent meaning beyond being the conjugated past tense of bereiden. The core meaning—preparing or making ready—derives from the base verb. The related adjective bereid can denote readiness, as in "het is bereid" meaning "it is prepared." The concept of preparation also appears in related Germanic languages, where cognate forms share the root sense of making ready.

See also: Dutch grammar, bereiden, bereid, preparation in cooking and planning contexts.