gegaan

Gegaan is the past participle of the Dutch verb gaan, meaning to go. It is used to form the voltooide tijd (present perfect) and other compound tenses, typically with the auxiliary zijn, since gaan is an intransitive verb of movement. Examples include Ik ben gegaan (I have gone) and Hij is gegaan (He has gone). The participle is invariable with respect to gender and number.

Etymology and form:gaan is a strong verb of Germanic origin. The past participle ge-gaan is formed with the prefix ge- attached to the verb stem. In ordinary speech, this is the standard participle for the perfect tenses in Dutch. For phrasal variants with prefixes, the participle can take a combined form: weggaan (to go away) becomes weggegaan (I have gone away).

Usage notes: In addition to its basic perfect tenses, ge gaan appears in past and past-perfect constructions such as ik was gegaan (I had gone) or we zijn naar huis gegaan (we went home). The simple past form of the verb is ging, as in Ik ging naar huis (I went home). Dutch commonly uses gaan to express future or planned action in combination with another infinitive, for example: Ik ga eten (I am going to eat). Past participles like gegaan are not typically adjusted for subject gender or number.

Translations and cognates: In English, gegaan corresponds to gone or went, depending on tense. In Afrikaans, the past participle is ook gegaan and is used with het to form perfect tenses. Related forms include the longer compound weggegaan (gone away) for separable verbs.