dacht

Dacht is the simple past tense form of the Dutch verb denken, meaning to think. It is used to describe a thought, belief, or assumption that occurred in the past. For example, ik dacht dat het open was (I thought it was open). The form भी appears in many past-tense statements and is common in everyday speech and writing.

Conjugation and related forms: In the present tense the verb denken is conjugated as ik denk, jij denkt, hij/zij/het denkt, wij denken, jullie denken, zij denken. The past tense forms are: ik dacht, jij dacht, hij/zij/het dacht; wij dachten, jullie dachten, zij dachten. The past participle is gedacht, used with hebben to form perfect tenses, e.g., ik heb gedacht. The verb’s infinitive is denken.

Usage notes: Dacht is typically used with a clause introduced by dat to express what someone believed in the past, such as Ik dacht dat hij zou komen. It can also appear in phrases like ik dacht even, meaning I thought for a moment. The word dacht should not be confused with gedacht, the past participle used in perfect tenses (ik heb gedacht).

Etymology and related forms: Dacht derives from denken, a Germanic verb with cognates in related languages; it is related to the English think and German denken. In Dutch, past tense forms often end in -te or -de, with -t for singular subjects and -ten for plural forms.

See also: denken, gedachte (the noun for "thought").