gebeuren

Gebeuren is a Dutch verb meaning to occur, take place, or happen. It is an intransitive verb used to describe events, incidents, or situations that arise or unfold without a direct object.

In everyday usage, gebeueren appears in impersonal or existential constructions. Common examples include het gebeurt (it happens) and er gebeuren dingen (things happen). The phrase wat is er gebeurd asks what has happened, illustrating the related perfect form with the past participle gebeurd. Dutch also uses the past tense forms gebeurd (past participle) and sometimes gebeurde or gebeurden for simple past, depending on number and person. The verb often appears in combinations with other verbs or nouns to discuss events, changes, or developments.

Conjugation and forms are typical of Dutch intransitive verbs with the present third-person singular form gebeurt (it happens) and the plural hebben/zij gebeuren (they happen). The infinitive is gebeueren, and the past participle is gebeurd, used with auxiliary zijn to form perfect tenses, as in het is gebeurd. Some nuance exists in regional speech and stylistic choices, but the core meaning remains: gebeueren denotes that something comes to pass or takes place.

Etymology traces to Middle Dutch, with a prefix ge- common to many Dutch perfective forms and a root related to events or occurrences. It is cognate with German geschehen and related to the English word happen in sense and usage. See also gebeueren as a basis for woorden such as gebeurtenis (event) and related terms describing occurrences.