faalt

Faalt is a form of the Dutch verb falen, meaning to fail or to be unsuccessful. In usage, faalt describes that something does not perform as intended or collapses, and it is most often applied to inanimate subjects such as systems, plans, tests, or processes. The word can appear in technical reports, journalism, and everyday language, signaling a lack of success or reliability.

Grammatical notes: falen is a regular, but sometimes considered slightly irregular in its common usages. The present tense forms include ik faal, jij faalt, hij/zij/het faalt, wij falen, jullie falen, zij falen. Faalt specifically marks the third-person singular present, as in "Het systeem faalt." The past tense forms are falde and falden, and the past participle is gefaald, used with heb-/zijn in perfect and pluperfect constructions (for example, "Ik heb gefaald" or "Het systeem is gefaald" in some contexts).

Common contexts: faalt is often used when describing failures of technology, experiments, or plans, for example, "De tests faalt" or more natural constructions like "De probe faalt onder druk," “The test failed under pressure.” It can also convey moral or personal shortcomings in more figurative language, though this is less common than in objective reporting.

Related terms include falen as the infinitive and faalbeschrijving as a phrase describing a failure. In Dutch, faalt is a straightforward present-tense marker for singular third-person subjects and is part of the broader set of forms built around falen.